Macchina di Santa Rosa

The third and final major procession of the Festival of Santa Rosa took place on Saturday night. There were hundreds of people in the street to view the mini macchina on Thursday, thousands to view the transportation of the heart of Santa Rosa on Friday and tens of thousands to see the macchina on Saturday. This is a BIG deal here. For over a week they have been installing chain fences and setting up viewing stands along the route. On Saturday morning people began setting up chairs and staking out spots to watch from at the crack of dawn for a parade that didn’t officially begin until 9 PM and actually began considerably later. The macchina itself was assembled across the span of several days almost two weeks ago. It is difficult to imagine this thing. It stands nearly 100 feet tall and weighs over 6 tons. It is carried on a 1.5 km route through the city by 100+ men all dressed in white with red sashes. The streets are cleared of people around 7:30 and workers sweep the entire street so that there is no garbage or anything else which might cause anybody to stumble. We even saw them filling cracks between cobbles to make the surface as even as possible. If the macchina comes down, people will die. A bit before 9 the bearers walk the route in reverse being lead by a group of dignitaries and a marching band. All of the street and building lights are shut off while the macchina is present and the crowd really responds when the lights go out.

The procession begins around the corner from where we live at the Porta Romana and proceeds downhill. No one group can carry it all the way so they rotate in fresh bearers periodically. The first time that happens is at the Piazza Fontana Grande which was within sight of our viewing spot on the top floor of the building which houses the school. The first glimpse we had of the macchina was of the figurine on top of the tower which is higher than any building in the entire city. There are colored lights on the macchina, but all of the white lights are actually oil lamps. There was an interesting smoke effect while the tower was resting in Piazza Fontana Grande. At least that is what we thought it was until the fire brigade put out the blaze! Nobody seemed particularly alarmed so it must be a somewhat typical occurrence.

When the macchina went past our viewing point some 40ish feet above street level we were actually only about 1/3 of the way up the tower. Unbelievable. Everybody crowds into the street after it passes and joins the throng following the path. We watched it all the way down to the next piazza from our window where it did a 360° turn before being placed on horses so that another fresh group of bearers could take up the task.

We walked the route on Friday night after Santa Rosa’s heart went by and noted that the final 100 meters is up a fairly steep hill. We have been told that it is tradition for the bearers to RUN up the hill in a final sprint to the end, but we did not witness that ourselves. Instead, we returned home. As we passed the mounds of trash and junk left by people who had camped all day on the sidewalk it was interesting to note that the ropes and chains were already being removed. By 7:30 AM on Sunday morning we could hear the sounds of scaffolding being taken down and put away. The macchina itself will be on view at the Cathedral of Santa Rosa for at least a week before it is taken down and put away. The tower is not used indefinitely; a new tower is created every few years so perhaps this was the last trip for this particular tower. If we are here next year we will let you know!