Festa a mare agli scogli di Sant'Anna (Feast by the sea near Sant’Anna’s reef)
The Feast was born in 1932 on the initiative of a group of friends: “We had noticed that, on the evening of July 26th ,several fishermen's boats, with families on board, went to recite the Rosary in front of the little church of S. Anna. After that, a dinner of rabbit and parmigiana aubergines was consumed by the sea. We thought of forming a committee for a parade of decorated boats and lamps on the hills of Campagnano and Soronzano ”.
The themes of the allegorical boats change every year but the spirit of the Feast has remained unchanged since then: narrow around the Castle, true fulcrum of the Feast, hundreds of boats from all over the Gulf of Naples invade the Bay peacefully and thousands of islanders walk on the Bridge, sitting on the rocks, in the Piazzale delle alghe, they wait impatiently for the culminating moment: the burning of the Castle.
In this extremely symbolic Feast (as often the popular feasts) spaces and places of the Borgo are confronted, in harmonies and in dystonia that represent its essence: the Tower of Michelangelo (Renaissance villa located in the green) in comparison with the Castello (to represent the - at that time - dense urbanization on the Insula minor); the hill of Soronzano and - again - the Aragonese Castle, as reliefs facing each other; the little church of Sant’Anna with its cemetery, a place of great symbolism, and the Borgo di Celsa, the place of daily life; the black rocks of Cartaromana, marine nature, and the colorful fishermen's houses ...
(Photos © Marco Albanelli - Castello Aragonese d'Ischia)