Verginelle Procession / Madonna del Carpine Feast

The Verginelle Procession of Rapino

In the town of Rapino, a village perched on the slopes of the Majella in the province of Chieti, one of the most intense and deeply felt religious traditions of Abruzzo is renewed every May 8th: the Verginelle Procession, the heart of the Madonna del Carpine Feast. This is a devotional rite handed down for over two centuries, which the Central Institute for Intangible Heritage has recognized as an Intangible Heritage of Italy.

The legend and the miracle

The devotion is rooted in a Marian apparition: according to tradition, the Madonna appeared among the branches of a hornbeam tree (carpino) to a young shepherd, indicating the place where a statue was later found and where the Santuario della Madonna del Carpine (or Carpineto) was built, which still houses the miraculous image. The May 8th recurrence is also linked to a miraculous intervention that occurred in 1794, when the Madonna is said to have freed the village from a long drought that threatened the harvest by bringing back the rain.

The Verginelle and their attire

The absolute protagonists of the festival are the Verginelle, young girls from Rapino aged between 6 and 13. They parade dressed in white, pink, or light blue tunics and wear family jewelry sewn onto their dresses, often borrowed from relatives and friends: the gold is thus displayed in the procession and offered symbolically as an ex-voto to the Madonna del Carpine. The elaborate hairstyles and costumes are carefully prepared by grandmothers and mothers on the morning of the festival. Alongside the Verginelle are children dressed as angels, the Daughters of Mary, and youths in traditional costumes.

The route and the moments of the festival

The solemn procession starts from the Parish Church of San Lorenzo and winds through the streets of the village until it reaches the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Carpine. The return of the procession to the parish church, with the solemn final blessing and traditional fireworks, concludes the event. The May 8th procession is accompanied on the previous evening by a theatrical historical re-enactment that portrays the apparition and the miracle of the Madonna.

A living heritage of the Marrucino Abruzzo

The Verginelle Feast is organized by the Parish of San Lorenzo Martire with the local Festival Committee. Even today, the devotion to the Madonna del Carpine is extremely strong in the Rapino community, which sees the Verginelle rite as a moment of powerful collective identity and a bridge between generations. The symbolic value of the event, the family transmission of the dresses and gold, and the uninterrupted continuity of the rite make it one of the most precious testimonies of Abruzzese popular culture.