IL Sacro Fuoco di Sant'Antonio

While I plan to get back to my November trip (which includes Venice, Padova, and Bolognia), I thought I'd strike on my current "doings" while the fire was hot!  And while I do not mean to be, the subject of hot fire is just what this subject is about.

Il Sacro Fuocco di Sant' Antonio means "The Sacred Fire of St. Anthony" and it's a festival that is celebrated every year on January 16 in Bangaia, Italy.  As I found out today, it's a 25-minute uphill bike ride from Viterbo.  So while I was getting a little exercise, I stumbled upon this centuries-old tradition in Bangaia.  The picture at the right shows an 8 meters tall by 30 meters in circumference tower of logs that will become "The Sacred Fire" on the 16th.

The bonfire from the feast of
Saint Anthony, 2013

The Feast of St. Anthony Abbot is quite common, especially in rural areas and towns of the province of Viterbo (not the city of Viterbo…two different things) where the traditions are more deeply rooted than in large cities. Despite being born into a rather wealthy family, from an early age Anthony showed little interest in the opulence of worldly life.  When his parents died Anthony distributed all his bequeathed wealth to the poor and took up the life of solitude prayer. He spent many years living in an ancient tomb carved out of stone, struggling against the temptations of the devil, who often appeared to display his powers. These provocations lead Anthony to fast and give penance, always managing to triumph. Despite living a life of suffering, his life was very long-lived: in fact, he died at the age of 105 years.

The rituals that are performed every year on the feast of St. Anthony are ancient. He is considered the patron saint against outbreaks of certain diseases, both of man and of animals. While in Bagnaia, the townfolk had cordoned off a space in front of the church on the main square, where animals (in this case, chickens, hens, and roosters) could receive a blessing from the local priest. 

Anthony also is regarded as the patron saint of fire, as fire is an element of good wishes in this context. A party, therefore, which is meant and means to be celebrated at the beginning of every year, unleashes positive forces and, thanks to the element of fire, defeats evil and disease that may always be lurking. 

UPDATE:  January 16

So I recruited one of the Italian teachers from SYA to come with me (Alesandra, a.k.a. "Ale").  She had never been to Il Sacro Fuoco so it was just as exciting for her as it was for me!  We arrived right at 6:30, just after they had lit the bonfire.  As we were watching the smoke billowing out of the middle of the teepee of logs, the announcer provided more accurate stats of it than I had reported a few days before:  close to 9 meters (almost 30 feet) high and 35 meters (over 100 feet) in circumference at the base.  

As evidenced from the pictures, the logs didn't get going right away.  Lots of smoke in the beginning (see picture progression on the left), so Ale and I positioned ourselves upwind as to avoid being smothered.  The smoke was thick and very grey.  After about 45 minutes, we started to see a few flickers and cracklings here and there.  By the hour mark, we had ourselves a massive bonfire!  To put this spectacle in perspective, Pat (the SYA director) took his family to see Il Sacro Fuoco one year and stood about 100 feet away from the bonfire.  Even at that distance, little embers of the fire showered down on them to the point that they went home with singed coats.  "That night out cost me 300 Euros in new coats," he told me, "so whatever you do, don't wear any valuable clothing and stand farther back!"  

Ale and I took his advice, probably standing close to a football field away from the bonfire and still, a few little "fire drops" landed near us (no singed coats, however).  Wow!  As we continued to watch this amazing fire display, we treated ourselves to a dixie cup of wine and a porchetta (or sliced pork on a hard roll), a festive Viterbese sandwich.  The fire will probably burn all night and into tomorrow (unless the fire department has had enough and extinguishes it), but Ale and I had our fill of the scene after about an hour and a half.  It was, after all, a school night!

Ravenna (November 19)

We stayed overnight in Ravenna at a very nice hotel with an equally nice dinner the night before and breakfast the next morning; always a nice way to start the day knowing you’ll be on your feet all day!

Interesting factoid of Ravenna: it was the last capitol of the Roman Empire before its fall in 476 AD, thus ending the "Classic Age" and marking the beginning of the "Middle (or Dark) Age."  According to the story told by SYA's Ancient History teacher, Santo Sammartino, the "end" occurred as a result of the bloody confrontation of among Zeno, the emperor of the East (Constantinople), Odoacer, the leader of the Barbarians, and Romulus Augustus, the emperor of the Roman Empire in Ravenna.

In the morning we took the kids to a local high school (left) where they could meet and befriend kids their age in another town.  The Italian students, in turn, became the tour guides of the day!  As you can imagine, it was a total success!  Our kids were fully engaged and the Italian students had a lot of fun in this role.

Our students were broken up into groups of 6-8 students, 1 SYA teacher, and about 3-4 Italian student per group. Here's my group (see right).  Laura, our main tour guide, is in the one in the red jacket.  Her assistants are off to the right (can't remember their names). Once we established the groups, we were led to the Dante Museum, one of the main attractions in Ravenna.  While Dante wasn’t from Ravenna, he spent some time here writing and his remains are located here as well.  The picture at the right shows the courtyard of the building that houses the Dante museum, located on the windows on the second floor.  

The museum was fascinating.  I didn’t really know much about Dante besides the Inferno section of his most famous work, The Devine Comedy.  Anyway, the Italian students really did their homework before luring us around the museum.  They were fantastic with their knowledge of Dante and the museum but they were naturally able to engage our students better than any adult tour guide would/could have.  Total success!

Afterwards, students had time to explore anything they wanted in the city with their Italian guides.  One of the places our group visited was the Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo (right).  It was erected during the sixth century by the Arians and originally dedicated in 504 AD.  It was then re-consecrated in 561 AD under the rule of Byzantine emperor Justinian I, under the new name “Santus Martinus in Coelo Aureo” (Saint Martin in Golden Heaven).  Suppressing the Arian influence on the church, it was dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, a foe of Arianism.  According to legend, Pope Gregory the Great ordered that the breath-taking mosaics in the church be blackened, as they distracted worshipers from their prayers. 

The basilica was renamed again in 856 AD when relics of St. Apollinaris were transferred from the Basilica of the original Sant’ Apollinare because of the threat posed by frequent raids of pirates from the Adriatic Sea.  On the very upper band of the left lateral wall are 13 small mosaics, depicting Jesus’ miracles and parables. On the right are 13 mosaics depicting the Passion and Resurrection.

In the afternoon, we took our kids to the Basilica of San Vitale (left).
Like the New Basilica of St. Apollinaris, San Vitale was filled with mostly amazing masaics (see right below) mixed in with equally stunning frescos (see right above).

The construction of the Basilica of San Vitale began in 526 AD and consecrated in 547 AD, under the direction of Bishop Maximian prior to Byzantine rule in Ravenna.  The church is most famous for its wealth of Byzantine mosaics, the largest and best preserved outside of Constantinople.  The church is of extreme importance in Byzantine art, as it is the only major church from the period of the Emperor Justinian I to survive virtually intact to the present day.  

According to legend, the church was erected on the site of the martyrdom of St. Vitalis.  However, there is some confusion as to which St. Vitalis the martyrdom is referring to (St. Vitalis of Milan or St. Vitalis of Bologna).

On the grounds of San Vitale stands the Mausoleum of Galla Pacidia, built in 417 AD and formerly the oratory of the Church of the Holy Cross.  Presently it is simply the resting place of three sarcophagi, the largest of which belongs to the remains of Galla Pacidia, daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I.  Galla Pacidia was a well-know patron of the arts, so it comes as no surprise that the interior of the mausoleum is ornately decorated, top to bottom, with the most elegant (and well-preserved) mosaics I think I've ever seen!

As you enter the mausoleum from the north you are immediate blown away by the semi-cylindrical mosiac design in gold and blue glass, known as tesare.  Facing the north entrance you can see above the doorway a depiction of Jesus with his flock of sheep, known as the "Good Shepard" mosaic.

It was a good day, indeed!  We certainly packed in a lot of sites for just one day!  At the end of each day, once we returned to our hotel and had a moment or two to freshen up, we were privy to wonderful food and drink prepared by the hotel staff.  

Parma (November 18)

Wow!  It's been nearly two months since my last post!  Time flies when you're having fun, if you call the end of any semester with tests/quizzes/projects to grade (followed by comment writing on each of your students, followed by comments on each of your advisees) fun (lol)!  Throw in a quick jaunt back to the States for the holidays and, violà, here I am!  Here's my attempt to get caught up.  Enjoy!

November 18 – Parma

On this day we ventured out by bus (see right) on the second of four scheduled extended school trips.  The first was our orientation trip to the province of Latina, about 2 hours south of Viterbo, in September.  This trip would take us 6 hours north of Viterbo, over the Apennine Mountains (see below left), to the cities of Ravenna, Padova, and Venezia.

But first, we make an intermediate stop to a small town called Parma, which is appropriately named since its where the truly authentic parmesan cheese is produced.  The locals will tell you the “parmesan” cheese we get in the green Kraft plastic container isn’t the real thing.  In fact, if it’s not spelled “parmeggiano” it’s not really “it”.  Okay.  Fair enough!

In Parma we toured a museum/factory where parmeggiano is made.  While our tour guide, Valentina (left) was a very nice, well-versed, lady of the cheese, her delivery was a bit dry and difficult to understand at times (even for the Italian teachers!).  However through the video she shows us and some info I lifted from the internet, the process in which the cheese is produced is pretty interesting.

Parmigiano-Reggiano is made from raw cow’s milk. The whole milk of the morning milking is mixed with the naturally skimmed milk (which is made by holding milk in large shallow tanks to allow the cream to separate) of the previous evening's milking, resulting in a part skim mixture. The milk is pumped into copper-lined vats (see left)

The temperature is then raised to 55 degrees C (131 degrees F) with careful control by the cheese-maker.  The curd is left to settle for 45-60 minutes.  The compacted curd is collected in a piece of loosely woven cotton fabric before being divided in two and placed in molds or "wheels".  There is 1100 liters (291 gallons) of milk per vat, producing two cheeses each (above right).  The curd making up each wheel weighs around 45 kg (100 lbs).  The remaining whey in the vat is used to feed pigs from which "prosciutto di Parma" is produced.  Those Italians don't waste anything!

The best part, of course, as it was at the olive oil factory, was the tasting of the parmeggiano at the end (pic 4).  The cheese was, as you can imagine, was amazing!!