In Caltanissetta: Easter Sunday

April 21, 2019

Before stepping out into town, let’s have a quick look at our apartment where we’ll stay for two nights. It’s quite an inconvenient layout -narrow, linear, a bit like living in a slot canyon - made worse by having to fit our bikes into an already too narrow space. The WiFi is poor, the kitchen area poorly serviced. To me, it looks nothing like the room we booked on the website. There’s not much I like about the place and I don’t recommend it, since you asked.

As I said previously, we came to Caltanissetta hoping to observe some of its renowned Easter festivities. Had we known or thought to look for it, we could probably have found the schedule for the week and planned better. Today, Easter Sunday, does have a procession; but it is not like the others. It isn’t really a religious procession, but more ceremonial. Still though, it was a great show that we felt lucky to witness.

I’m not sure I’ve got the story right here, because I couldn’t find a really clear explanation of what we saw this morning. Here’s what I understand though: for the duration of Holy Week, control of the city is symbolically ceded to the Real Maestranza, the current-day representation of what was the original city militia that oversaw Caltanissetta in the 1500’s. Today’s ceremony celebrates the return of the keys to the city at the end of Settimana Santa.

It’s a great show, with three segments. It begins with the procession leaving the cathedral and marching up Umberto Street, bringing the keys to the city to a nearby church, where a short ceremony occurs, the keys are blessed, and the bishop (?) joins the procession. It then continues up the avenue to a larger ceremony, where the keys are returned to the city’s officials. Much pomp and circumstance, and a marching band.

Afterwards, the procession reverses course and returns to the cathedral, again led by the marching band. When it arrives at the cathedral the marching band peels off to the side, but the rest of the procession continues on into the cathedral. Moments later organ music fills the cathedral and the Easter Sunday service commences.

I won’t say more about it than this. Hopefully the photos will suffice to give a sense of the event, along with videos of the procession and the interior of the cathedral.

The calendar for Settanta Santa (Holy Week)

One of the two monsters of the Triton Fountain

The other big event for the day is Easter dinner, at Il Brillo - the restaurant where we have a one PM reservation waiting for us. It’s about two miles away, and it takes us about a half hour to arrive walking along a not particularly attractive, not especially pedestrian-friendly route.

I could say a lot about this meal, or a little. Since I’m behind though, I’ll go with little. It’s a multi-course feast that unfolds slowly and occupies all afternoon - we don’t leave until 4:30. There are two options to the set menu - Rachael selects the surf, and I take the turf. We have a lot of time to sit and wait for the next course (all of which are excellent, including Rachael’s octopus). Besides the meal itself, I enjoy watching the interactions of the four generation family dining at a long table next to us. It feels like I’m sitting in on an Italian film.

After that we walk back to the room, digest for a few hours, and then walk back down to the cathedral. There’s a second event on the calendar that we decide to go see - but we fail to find it. Either there’s not actually an event, or we don’t know where to look. It’s quite chilly and quite windy, so we quickly lose interest in hunting around and return to our slot canyon for the night. We can’t really work on the journal and videos because the WiFi is so poor, but with a long, challenging day ahead and 20-25 mph winds are predicted for the whole day, we have plenty to occupy our minds.

One of the granddaughters, worn out by the long meal and probably by tending to her energetic son all afternoon, takes a break on the great grandmother’s shoulder.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesIn Leipzig, we watched the Pope in St Peters on a big screen TV. It was a better view than being there. The guy (Franciscus) seems to be walking poorly. Needs new knees like Dodie?
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4 years ago

Bruce LellmanI love the video of the procession.
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4 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesNow, almost a year later, we watched the Pope in an empty St. Peters. So weird, but we could really see the beautiful floors clearly with no crowds on them.
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4 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesIt is all so strange, and so painful to look at from afar. I wonder how long it will be before it’s possible to tour there in the same way again, if ever; or if we’ll still have the legs for it when the time comes. We’ve had plans and still have our bookings for a tour of the Sunshine Coast this July, but even that looks quite unlikely now.

We’ve both been so fortunate for the opportunities we’ve had, haven’t we? Carpe diem!
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4 years ago