The panache – fervour, if you will – with which the Catholics in Palermo stage events can captivate even non-believers. The feast of the Holy Madonna of Mount Carmel, held on the first of August, is a visual spectacle that could be straight out of antiquity. During this annual event the colourful life-sized wooden sculpture of the Madonna is carried on a wagon in procession through the streets encircling the Chiesa del Carmine Maggiore, accompanied by a pair of lusty brass bands that pluck the age-old ritual out of the past and bombard it into the present with pounding, pulsating pizzazz.
First Publication: 8-9-2011
Modifications: 29-9-2011, 20-2-2012, 20-6-2013