Living Via Crucis “From the Supper with His Friends to the Cross”

The Passion of Christ in the squares of Fontanarosa

Every Good Friday, the historic center of Fontanarosa, a small town in the Province of Avellino, Campania, transforms into an open-air theater. The Living Via Crucis, titled “From the Supper with His Friends to the Cross,” retraces the final hours of Jesus' life with a scenic and emotional power that involves the entire town. It is not a show designed for mass tourism: it is a collective act of faith in which a community of just over two thousand inhabitants tells its story, gathers, and finds itself moved.

A tradition revived after thirty years

The representation of the Passion had disappeared from Fontanarosa for over thirty years. In 2025, a group of local associations, together with the parish, decided to bring it back to the streets: the response from the population was immediate, and the first edition of the revival brought together over seventy people, including actors, volunteers, technicians, and organizers. That event was experienced as a true civil rebirth, even before a religious one, and convinced everyone to continue: the following edition offered an even broader and more refined narrative, confirming the Via Crucis as one of the most heartfelt events in the local calendar.

Three squares, one single story

The strength of the event lies in the choice not to concentrate everything in one place, but to have the audience walk along with the procession. The story unfolds in three different spaces of the town, each dedicated to a moment of the Passion:

• Piazza Cascella — the washing of the feet and the Last Supper;
• Piazza Cristo Re — the Garden of Olives, the judgment of the Sanhedrin, Peter's denial, and the trial before Pontius Pilate;
• Piazza degli Artisti, in the Cantarella area — the crucifixion and the death of Jesus.

The finale is entrusted to the procession with the statues of Our Lady of Sorrows and the dead Jesus, which leads the community back to the parish church for the traditional exchange of the sign of peace.

The scenes of the Passion

The script faithfully follows the Gospel narrative and stages, with period costumes, the most well-known passages:

• the washing of the feet;
• the Last Supper;
• Jesus in the Garden of Olives;
• Jesus judged by the Sanhedrin;
• Peter's denial;
• the trial before Pontius Pilate;
• the crucifixion and the death of Jesus.

Who brings the Via Crucis to the stage

The event was born within the San Nicola Maggiore Parish, under the spiritual guidance of Father Angelo Gaeta, and sees the Forum Giovani Fontanarosa, Associazione Fontanarosa Comunità, Confraternita della Misericordia, Azione Cattolica, and Pro Loco “La Fonte” working side by side, with the patronage of the municipal administration. The direction is by Valentino Santucci; sets, costumes, lighting, and sound are entirely handled by local volunteers. This is the most significant detail: no professional actors, but dozens of fellow citizens who rehearse for weeks in parish halls and local garages.

Fontanarosa, the village of stone and straw

Those who arrive for the Via Crucis discover a town that has made craftsmanship its identity. Fontanarosa is known throughout Irpinia for its stone carving and the art of straw weaving, which every August 14th gives life to the famous Tirata del Carro: a wooden obelisk covered in woven straw panels, about thirty meters high, pulled by oxen along the streets of the center in honor of Our Lady of Mercy. The Good Friday Via Crucis and the August Carro share the same deep root, that of the choral work of an entire community: two different rites, one single way of being together.

When to go and what to expect

The event is scheduled for nightfall, at 7:00 PM, when the stage lights and torches restore a suspended atmosphere to the squares. Participation is free and open to everyone, believers and non-believers alike: however, it is a moment of reflection, and the public is invited to follow it with respect and in silence. Those visiting Irpinia during this period can combine the evening with the discovery of the Easter rites of neighboring towns, including Mirabella Eclano, Grottaminarda, and the Calore Valley, where Holy Week remains one of the most defining moments of the year.