Forget Christmas. Sicily is already thinking about Easter

These various scenes were created between 1883 and 1902 by the father-son artist duo Francesco and Vincenzo Biangardi. Originally from Naples, they moved south and worked as artists in Calabria and Sicily before moving to Caltanissetta to create these figures. This will be their masterpiece.

They stand on wheeled platforms at shoulder height, looming over the crowd. Each depicts Christ’s journey to the cross, often in gory detail.

There he is scourged before the high priest Caiaphas. He stumbles in front of Veronica, but Veronica wipes her face with her veil. Then he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Last Supper is a vast tableau in which the disciples turn on each other to find out who betrayed their master. It’s as spectacular as Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Last Supper fresco in Milan.

Then there is Mary and the infant St. John embracing St. John as he is taken down from the cross, a scene from the Pietà as tender as Michelangelo’s famous sculpture in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In total, there are 16 vales, 15 of which were created by the Biengardi duo using papier-mâché, plaster, and wood.

“They are very important to the city,” said Salvatore Petrantoni, a member of the Caltanissetta City Council who is in charge of events such as Holy Week. “One vala alone is not very valuable, but as a group they become important in the tradition.”

Indeed, they pack a punch when they circle Caltanissetta in large lines. First, they are huge. Each figure is at least life-sized, some even larger. And they are set up on rolling platforms starting almost at shoulder height for teams of strongmen who have to push them out.

Departing at exactly 8pm, each group will be accompanied by a marching band. Each band’s music competes against those on either side, making the narrow streets of Caltanissetta echo with dirges and solemn marches.

And it’s not just the people pushing each votive tablet, which can require up to six people to move, but these days they also have the help of motorized wheels underneath the cart. There are also people who go along with it. The public lines up after “their” varas, and guild members clear roads and light smoke bombs in the streets to announce the arrival of the wagons.

Meanwhile, each Vara has a leader, immaculately decked out in a tailcoat, who directs the movement of the tableau with a metal baton, clanking it against the pulleys of the cart, telling those pushing from behind when to stop and when to restart.

Before them all goes the Cuntastoria, or “narrator,” a woman who keeps shouting out the Gospel stories in Sicilian.

Everywhere the line goes, there are hundreds of people waiting for it. As the wagon approaches, the two part silently like the Red Sea.

The procession of Valle, which departs on Maundy Thursday, is the most spectacular of Caltanissetta’s Easter ceremonies, but it is not the only one. Here, this tradition continues throughout Easter week.

Wednesday is the day of the Real Maestranza, which is essentially a gathering of the city’s historic artisans. The origins of this group date back to the Middle Ages. At that time, the rulers of Caltanissetta organized a private army to defend the city against Saracen invasions. Today, it is a private group divided into guild-like subsets, each representing a profession such as painters and decorators, confectioners, carpenters, and hairdressers.

These civilians occupy the city on the Wednesday before Easter. At that time, the “captain” of the Real Maestranza (who is chosen each year from one of the subgroups) goes to the City Hall with his symbolic sword and is handed the key to the city, which lies on a cushion.

The mayor says goodbye to his power; for the rest of Holy Week, this captain is the “padrono della città,” or lord of the city, in charge of Caltanissetta. Previously, he (always he) could choose one prisoner to release from the local jail. Unfortunately for today’s fraudsters, captains no longer have the power to suspend sentences. However, he wears an exaggerated traditional costume of tailcoat, shorts, and white stockings to work, and spends a week lording it over the citizens. Members of Real Maestranza will also be marching through the barrisades (small vales) on Wednesday night.

The sculpture is beloved by the Nisseni not only because it is said to be miraculous, but also because it is associated with the poorest people in society, explains Tony Gangitano, an Italian filmmaker from Caltanissetta. This stone is said to have been discovered in 1618 by the Fogliamari (people who made a living by collecting wild herbs and leaves in the countryside and selling them in town). It is said that they were foraging in the countryside outside Caltanissetta (foriamari means “bitter leaf”) when they entered a cave where they found two candles burning on either side of the sculpture. As soon as the cross was washed from dirt, its color darkened again and it was given the name Cristo Nero.

“I’ve always been fascinated by queues,” says Gangitano, who now lives between Sicily and the mainland. He originally planned to make a short film about the ritual, but turned it into a feature-length film that combines documentary and historical re-enactment. U Christu Turvatu, starring renowned Italian actor Gaetano Aronica and filmed in a medieval town built by Arab conquerors who ruled here during the Middle Ages, won the top prize at the 2022 Taipei Golden Horse International Film Festival.

Today, Fogliamari still exists, and if you walk through Caltanissetta during the day, you can often see vans and cars parked on the roadside selling freshly picked wild herbs and salad leaves on their bonnets. Members of their association lead the Good Friday procession ahead of the local priest. They are followed by the Nisseni (those who have sworn an oath to Cristo Nero) walking the streets barefoot, and by the members of the Real Maestranza in suits and boots, each carrying a lantern. Some carry swords, spears, and shields.

“It’s the most well-attended and the quietest procession,” Petrantoni said of the Good Friday event. As they walk through the quiet streets, the fogliamari lead chants and lamentations in a mixture of Sicilian and Latin, what Gangitano calls “an extremely tight dialect.”

It is an extraordinary, almost Biblical sight, and for believers it is one of the most moving events of Easter here in Sicily. “People cry because they know they have to wait another year,” Petrantoni said. Approximately half of Caltanissetta’s 60,000 people will take part, with around 1,000 people forming the core of the formal procession, which will walk barefoot through the town for several hours.

You will be reminded when you step into Pasticceria de Fraia, one of Caltanissetta’s famous pastry shops. Here they make spina santa, a crown-of-thorns pastry with blueberry jam inside. 1993年のローマ法王ヨハネ・パウロ2世の訪問のために作られたものです。 “The pope said it was the best thing he had ever eaten,” Gangitano says proudly.

“Vallée is a reminder of who we have always been. It has so much history. That’s why we value it so much,” said Petrantoni. They are trying to use it for other events rather than the annual parade. In September, he brought out his varicose veins for an event. While Vallée is always on his mind and always on display in stores across the city, plans for Holy Week 2026 will begin in earnest in February.

Gangitano, who specializes in making films about Sicily, says it’s important to maintain these traditions even as the world changes.

“If you don’t know the past, you can’t face the present.”