The Facchini (Porters) of Santa Rosa
Every year on the 3rd of September, one of the most passionate festivals in the region of Tuscia takes place in Viterbo.
The festival is in honour of Viterbo's Patron Saint, Santa Rosa. 100 Facchini (pronounced "fah-keen-ee" and means "porters") dress in their traditional white uniform with a red sash, gather and prepare for an emotional, exhausting parade over 1 kilometre through the narrow, winding streets and piazza's of Viterbo carrying on their shoulders the Macchina di Santa Rosa (the Statue dedicted to Saint Rose, the patron saint of Viterbo). The Macchina is a huge statue in the shape of a tower lit by torches and electric lights, made of light metals and modern materials, like fibreglass. It stands at about thirty (30) metres tall and weighs five tons! A new Macchina is designed every 5 years but every Macchina, is adorned with a statue of Santa Rosa in pride of place at the top of the Macchina.
All day crowds gather in and around the centre of Viterbo. At dusk the Facchini begin to gather together for their march through the streets of Viterbo to the Church of Santa Rosa where they will recieve their official blessing for the monumental task they face after dark on the evening of the 3rd of September. After the blessing the Facchini march, arm in arm back through the streets of Viterbo singing their ancient song. This song was written by xxx xxxx and the words represent the feelings and emotions of the generations of Facchini. When sung by the 100 Facchini as they march back to the resting place of the Macchina di Santa Rosa, the crowds feel and experience the raw passion of these men.
As darkness settles, the street lights of Viterbo are extinguished the 100 Facchini are called in numeric placement order to take their place under the Macchina a
On the evening of September 3 of each year, in Viterbo, the machine is lifted and carried in procession on the shoulders of a hundred men called "Facchini di Santa Rosa" over a distance of just over a kilometer articulated through the streets, sometimes very narrow, and the squares of the city center, in a suggestive darkness in which only the machine shines brilliantly lighted. Transportation, punctuated by cries of devout enthusiasm "Viva Santa Rosa" , symbolically commemorates the transfer of the remains of Santa Rosa , which took place in Viterbo in 1258 by order of Pope Alexander IV , from the Church of Santa Maria in Poggio (called Crocetta ) to church of Santa Maria delle Rose (today Sanctuary of Santa Rosa ). [1] the party is part of the Network of Italian big shoulder machines , [2] from 2013 inserted in the oral and intangible heritage of humanity dell ' UNESCO .