Holy Week and Diavolata of Adrano

A tradition spanning over 270 years

The Holy Week of Adrano, a town in the province of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna, is one of the most intense and spectacular in Sicily. Its most famous moment is the Diavolata (also known as i Diavulazzi di Pasqua), a sacred play that is renewed every Easter Sunday in Piazza Umberto I, in the heart of the historic center surrounded by the Norman Castle.

The script originates from the work The Resurrection, written in 1752 by the local priest Father Anselmo Laudani. Since then, the play has been performed every year by local amateur actors who pass down gestures, movements, and the declamation of verses from father to son: a continuity lasting over two and a half centuries that makes the Diavolata one of the moments in which the Adrano community most identifies itself.

The Diavolata and the Angelicata

The Diavolata stages, in allegorical form, the eternal struggle between Good and Evil. On stage, the devils—Lucifer, leader of the demons, along with Beelzebub and Astarotte—confront Death, Humanity, and the Archangel Michael. The demons attempt to convince Humanity to remain damned, as the body of the risen Christ is no longer in the sepulcher; however, the Archangel Michael intervenes and definitively defeats Lucifer, freeing Humanity. The show consists of five scenes and lasts just over twenty minutes, the result of weeks of rehearsals.

The Diavolata is followed by the Angelicata, added in more recent times, which depicts the meeting between the Risen Christ and the Madonna, with two Angels offering gifts to Mary. For some years now, both performances have also been repeated in the evening, with evocative effects created by artistic lighting of the square.

Holy Week Rites

• Palm Sunday: The Living Stations of the Cross with fifteen stations, winding from the Norman Castle to the Church of Santa Chiara, featuring the central scene of the Crucifixion.
• Maundy Thursday: The evocative procession of the 17th-century polychrome wooden statue of Christ at the Column, which leaves the Church of San Sebastiano along Corso Garibaldi towards the Mother Church. The bearers move with a characteristic gait of three steps forward and two back.
• Good Friday: In the morning, the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows is carried in procession by women; in the evening, it is the turn of the Dead Christ ('u Lizzanti), carried on shoulders for the tour of the Saints, accompanied by funeral chants.
• Easter Sunday: The Diavolata and the Angelicata in Piazza Umberto I, followed in front of the Church of Santa Chiara by A Paci, the meeting between Mary and the Risen Jesus.

An event that draws all of Sicily

Capable of attracting thousands of spectators from all provinces of the island and numerous foreign visitors, the Holy Week of Adrano is one of the most authentic expressions of Sicilian popular religiosity. Between sacred theater, processions, and ancient traditions, it offers the visitor a journey into the heart of the identity of this town in the province of Catania.