July 24th and 25th, stair lighting
14 e 15 agosto, new stair lighting
4000 candels
5 quintals of olive oil
21.30, time of stair lighting
142 steps
1600, the origin of the feast
Lights and fires, worship and tradition intertwine in one of the most characteristic and evocative summer holidays: the one that takes place in Caltagirone, on the occasion of the feast of the Patron San Giacomo.
We tell you five reason why not to miss it
1. THE TRADITION OF THE ILLUMINATED STAIR
Every year, twice a year, in the nights of July 24th and 25th (day of the commemoration of the saint) and in the night of August 14th and 15th the stair of Santa Maria del Monte is illuminated to celebrate the patron saint San Giacomo, in the Unesco city: Caltagirone.
The feast, that starts with the fireworks at the Villa Comunale on July 23rd, has its origins in 1600. But in 1800, with padre Benedetto Papale – inventor of the lighting of the staircase of Santa Maria del Monte (read n. 2) – that the feast really becomes the festivity that is celebrated even today, and that is handed down with the same ritual from generation to generation, seeing calatini and tourists involved. The Priest, for the ritual of the party and for the illuminated designs of the staircase, was inspired by the filet that women used to embellish the sacred furnishings.
2. THE RITE OF COPPI
The colored coppi are prepared by hand; sand is placed inside them and a small earthenware pot, called “ra”, with a small cotton wick, subsequently filled with olive oil, is placed over it. Already on the night of July 23 they are placed along all the steps in a specific order: they will form a design that will be illuminated on the evening of the 24th. One at a time, the colored coppi are lit with the support of a stick of wood from people who crowd the staircase and reveal the design to the patrons.
3. A FAMILY TRADITION
The coppi are placed by families (who for years have handed down the ritual of lighting, using old techniques and materials of the time) along the entire staircase, to form suggestive drawings. They themselves build the cylinders from sheets of white paper, then glue them and paint them in white, red or green. All the coppi – positioned on the night of July 23rd on the steps of the master builder and his helpers – on the 24th evening, at the whistle of the foreman, they are lit with small rods (which replace the original dry twigs called “buceddi”) by citizens and not.
4. THE DAY OF THE ILLUMINATION
It is at 9.30 pm on July 24th that the foreman emits a long whistle and invites the citizens who flocked to light the staircase in the dark, gathering themselves in search of the best place. In the night between July 24th and 25th, the lights, once again repositioned to compose a new design, are turned on again for a second magical moment.
5. THE CARPET OF LIGHTS
The magic of ignition generates a spectacle of rare beauty: a carpet full of lights, which forms an evocative drawing made up of 4000 small lights on the 142 steps of the seventeenth-century staircase (decorated with majolica and which connects the old and new part of Caltagirone with a height difference of 50 meters) with the representation of the iconography of the saint or city.
A rug that is “lit” again on the occasion of the feast of Maria SS. Del Ponte, on August 14th and 15th.