Monterosso Almo Closes Its Religious Season with Two Processions for Maria Bambina

Monterosso Almo's feast day began in darkness. Cannon shots and the ringing of bells announced the morning of Sunday 4 October in the hill town, and by 11.30 the simulacrum of Maria Santissima Bambina was due to leave the church of Sant'Anna for the first of two processions. The route through the streets of the old centre was to pass beneath floral tributes and prayers, in a devotional pattern the town's own accounts describe as among its most deeply felt and rooted. The same accounts call the occasion the external feast that closes the calendar of the summer's great religious celebrations.

The liturgy shaped the hours. After the morning Mass and the band's round of the historic centre, a solemn eucharistic celebration preceded the image's first exit from Sant'Anna. In the afternoon the town moved to piazza Rimembranza for the communal dinner, described as an appointment that has gathered Monterosso for years. The evening belonged to what the published programme calls the second and more awaited procession: after vespertine Mass, at 20.00, the Madonna returned among the people along the principal arteries of the centre, pausing in piazza Rimembranza for the recitation of the supplication to the Madonna of Pompei. Fireworks in piazza San Giovanni were to accompany the image's return and formally close the celebrations.

The feast was preceded by a week of preparation that began on Sunday 27 September. On Wednesday 30 September the community marked the feast of San Girolamo and the Day of the Word, with a catechesis on "Maria and Francesco: small ones who leave space for God". On Thursday 1 October, the memorial of Santa Teresa di Gesù Bambino, a special blessing was given to children, expectant mothers and families. Friday 2 October, the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, was also dedicated to grandparents, teachers and educators, with a sung rosary at 18.30, Mass at 19.00 and a concert by the Cantus Novo choir, "Canto in piazza all Together", in piazza Rimembranza at 21.00. Saturday's vigil, marking the eighth centenary of the Transito of San Francesco, ended with a musical show with Deborah Iurato, promoted by the municipal administration, and a dj set.

Accounts published after the event by Giornale Ibleo and La Sicilia — Ragusa describe an exceptional turnout of the faithful, with hundreds of people following the evening procession along its whole route. The organising committee and the parish community thanked the priests, volunteers, bearers, associations, law enforcement, the municipal administration and the faithful whose efforts, they said, allowed every appointment to unfold calmly and devoutly. A particular thank-you went to Gali Group Trasporti & Logistica of Ispica, which provided media support for the initiative — a contribution the sources say it has also extended to other religious events in the area.

What remained at the end was the sky over the piazza. The pyrotechnic display that lit it accompanied the simulacrum back inside, and the last of the season's great religious feasts in the hill town was over.