Feast of Maria SS. degli Angeli and the Banners

A centuries-old tradition in the heart of Sicily

Perched at an altitude of over 800 meters, the village of Assoro, in the province of Enna, preserves one of the most characteristic religious festivals in the Sicilian hinterland. The Feast of Maria SS. degli Angeli and the Banners is celebrated every year on the third Sunday of August and stands as an extraordinary example of how popular devotion withstands the passage of time and cultural change.

The origins: from 1839 to today

The Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and its adjoining convent were built by the Reformed Friars Minor in 1622, on the site of a pre-existing small sacred building. In 1839, twenty religious men residing in the convent signed an agreement pledging to hold a public procession every third Sunday of August, walking barefoot, to increase worship and devotion toward the Virgin. From that promise was born the festival that has united the entire Assoro community for nearly two centuries.

The confraternity and the procession

The beating heart of the festivities is the Nudi di Angili confraternity, whose members carry the heavy statue of the Madonna on their shoulders while barefoot. The statue travels through the ancient streets of the village and reaches Piazza Francesco Crispi, where the Virgin is honored by the banners in a suggestive ritual of reverence. The procession also includes a stop at the Basilica of San Leone for prayer and a blessing, before the statue returns to the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli amidst fireworks.

The banners and the banner-bearers

The most spectacular element of the festival is the large banners, standards that reach a height of about six meters and weigh thirty to forty kilograms. They are carried and twirled by the banner-bearers, who are highly skilled in maneuvering them despite their size. The tradition is passed down from generation to generation: children as young as four or five begin practicing with stinnardiddi, miniature banners, before moving on to full-sized ones.

A heritage to be cherished

Between exhibitions of ancient and modern banners in the convent cloister, sacred art displays inside the church, and guided tours of the paintings, the Chapel of the Immaculate, and the wooden choir, the Assoro festival is much more than a religious event: it is an identity-defining heritage of the Sicilian Region that the community of the Municipality of Assoro continues to promote and pass on.