Feast of San Dordi

A vow that has lasted for almost four centuries

The Festa de San Dordi — the feast of Saint George in the Sovramonte dialect — is one of the most heartfelt events in Sovramonte, a municipality in the province of Belluno, in the heart of the Feltrino region. It is celebrated in the hamlet of Sorriva around April 23rd and is rooted in a vow from 1631, when the population turned to Saint George, imploring the end of the plague.

The votive soup and the procession

The central ritual is the votive bean soup: beans are collected from house to house, cared for, and cooked to make a soup that is then distributed house to house by the conscripts — the twenty-year-olds of the village — in traditional Sovramonte costume. Each year, the soup is prepared by different families, in a rotation that involves the entire community. The Sunday following the feast, the penitential procession takes place, with hooded figures (the "cappati") carrying crosses, torches, and banners.

The Palio of Saint George

The religious dimension is complemented by the community and recreational aspect of the Palio of Saint George, the challenge that pits the four historic districts of the village against each other. All this takes place within a festival with a distinctly gastronomic and folkloric flavor, capable of attracting many visitors each year. In recent years, the festival has also been enriched by the Innovation Fair Sovramonte, an exhibition dedicated to robotics, aerospace, and scientific dissemination held concurrently, a sign of a town that cherishes tradition while looking to the future.