Virgen de Chapi Festival (Peruvian Community)

A piece of Peru in the heart of Rome

Every year on May 1st, the Trastevere district fills with colors, songs, and prayers in Spanish: it is the Virgen de Chapi Festival, the most heartfelt event for the Peruvian community living in Rome and the wider Lazio region. The devotion, which originated in the Chapi desert in the Polobaya district near Arequipa, is recreated in the capital with a procession winding through the neighborhood streets—historically gathering in Piazza San Cosimato—and concluding with a religious service inside the church.

History: an image that arrived in a suitcase

The Roman devotion to the Virgen de Chapi has a simple and moving history. The image was brought to Italy in a suitcase by the sister of Sofía Neyra, a Peruvian woman living in Rome who suffered from homesickness. From that private gesture, a collective devotion was born: the Asociación Virgen de Chapi de Arequipa en Roma formed around the image, composed primarily of Arequipa natives who have emigrated to Italy, organizing masses, vigils, and processions for Peruvians across the peninsula for twenty years.

How the day unfolds

The festival consists of two complementary parts. The first is the procession: the image of the Madonna, carried on the shoulders of devotees in traditional dress, travels through the streets of Trastevere accompanied by bands, Marian hymns, and the steps of the marinera—the elegant and swirling Peruvian courtship dance, which here becomes a tribute to the "Mamita." The second part is the Eucharistic celebration, a more intimate moment inside the church featuring readings and songs in Spanish.

• Procession of the image through the streets of the Trastevere district
• Traditional Peruvian dances, particularly the marinera
• Holy Mass for the Peruvian community in Spanish
• Social gathering featuring Peruvian gastronomy

The bond with Polobaya and Arequipa

The date is no coincidence: in Peru, between April 29th and May 2nd, tens of thousands of pilgrims trek for kilometers across the desert to reach the Chapi sanctuary. Those living far away cannot join that journey, so they recreate it here: the Roman festival is, in effect, a symbolic pilgrimage that unites two very distant cities, Arequipa and Rome. For many families, it is also the time of year when children born in Italy connect with the language, music, and flavors of their parents.

Twenty years and the Pope's greeting

In 2026, the celebration took on special significance: the association celebrated twenty years since the image arrived in Rome, and devotees gathered in St. Peter's Square, where Pope Leo XIV greeted the community publicly from his study window during the Regina Caeli prayer, thanking them for their service. This recognition brought international visibility to a festival previously known mostly within the neighborhood.

Why it's worth attending

In the Municipality of Rome, capital of the Lazio Region, dozens of devotions brought by migrant communities coexist, but few are as visible and welcoming as this one. The Virgen de Chapi Festival is not a folkloric show staged for tourists: it is a genuine, free, and open popular liturgy that offers a close-up look at Andean religiosity and the vitality of the largest Peruvian community in Europe. Anyone passing through Trastevere on May 1st finds themselves immersed, without warning, in an authentic fragment of Latin America.