Festival of Our Lady of the Hill

A festival that has lasted for centuries

The Festival of Our Lady of the Hill, also known as the Pollastrella Festival, is the most important celebration for the inhabitants of Casalmoro, in the Alto Mantovano and in the Province of Mantua. It takes place every year on November 21st, coinciding with the Presentation of Mary at the Temple, according to unwritten rules passed down for at least two centuries from generation to generation.

The firecrackers, soul of the festival

The most characteristic element is the explosion of firecrackers: large conical trunks of heavy metal, filled with gunpowder. It is the Mortaristi Group that prepares them, following a difficult and laborious procedure: the powder is pressed with large and heavy mallets, sometimes even during the night, according to an ancient rite now deeply rooted in the townspeople. The shots accompany the key moments of the day, from dawn to the solemn celebrations.

Celebrations at the sanctuary

The day revolves around the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Hill, on Via Valle Maria. It begins with the traditional early morning mass, at 5:30 AM, preceded and followed by the firing of firecrackers, which also mark the Elevation and the solemn blessing. A sequence of rites and sounds that creates a unique atmosphere, suspended between the sacred and the popular.

Between legend and identity

According to tradition, near the place where the sanctuary stands today, there was a furnace where clay blocks would break due to excessive heat; the workers decided to pray to an image of the Madonna kept in a nearby shrine and, thanks to their prayers, the furnace resumed production and the painting became an object of renewed veneration. From this legendary origin, a devotion is born that, in Casalmoro, is renewed every year with the festival, a symbol of the town's deepest identity.