We arrived into Benevento by train from Naples, and were greeted warmly by Laura’s relations Sandra and Lorenzo Ciaglia. We then drove for about 30min up into the hills to our destination, the small town of San Lupo.
We arrived right at the beginning of the three day festa, where the town honors its patron saint – San Lupo.
During the festa the town comes alive, and is dressed up with lights all up and down the main street and through the main piazza in front of the church.
The three days of the festa include various religious and civic events, including various mass’s honoring San Lupo, public concerts of classical music in the piazza, fireworks, processions through the town and the obligatory markets and food stalls.
Of course, it wouldn’t be an Italian fiesta without food – and there was defiantly no lack of that – Laura and myself generally returned to our accommodation most afternoons(for siesta), and again at night, stuffed to the brim with traditional Italian foods including, various pasta, pepperoni (stuffed peppers), breads, prosciutto, cheeses, parmigiana, vino, and beautiful home made limoncello – to mention just a few.
The town of San Lupo was absolutely beautiful. The main part of the town is essentially a medieval village with tiny cobble stone streets that wind up and down the side of a mountain.
Now days the town sprawls out a little with more modern, free standing houses surrounding the original village – but we were surprised at how modern the interiors of the older houses in the village actually were.
The piazza is the main focal point of the town (as with most European towns and villages) with a church at one end, a bar at the other and houses all around.
The first two nights we stayed about 1km out of town (an easy walk), in a newly opened B&B which was great. On our last night (the festa night) we stayed in town with some family friends, Alex & Berel, who were a lovely older, English speaking, couple.
We participated in most of the events of the festa, including two of the main mass’s, and all three of the town processions – 1 to commemorate the beheading of a bandit who used to raid the town a few centuries ago, the next to bless the local oil and grain, and the final one which was the longest and wound its way through almost every street in the town was to honor San Lupo.
The final procession follows immediately after a large mass given by the Bishop. The procession is made up of a marching band at the front, who are followed by many candle holders (who have made offerings to San Lupo). They are followed by another marching band and a group of men who carry the statue of San Lupo on their shoulders. Finally, anyone else who wishes to participate in the procession (this included us) walk behind.
This final procession took about an hour – on quite a warm day – and wound its way through almost every street in San Lupo (all of the main ones at least). It starts and ends at the church.
Many of the candle bearers walk the entire procession in bare feet.
Once the procession has completed (about 2.30pm), everyone retires to their houses for the festa lunch. Sandra had prepared an absolute feast for us – antipasto, lasagna, scallopini, pepperoni, parmigiana, fruit, and cake.
The festa night included continuous music in the piazza from two bands, and ended around 1.30am with a fireworks display – which we were ucky enough to watch from Alex & Berel’s roof top terrace.
All in all San Lupo was fantastic. Initially we were not sure what to expect – we have passed through some small towns before and had been given a poor impression – San Lupo was unlike any where in Italy we had been before. Everyone knew who we were and that we were Australians (or Kangaroos as we were sometimes referred to) visiting for the festa on our Honeymoon.
San Lupo was defiantly a highlight for Italy, and even our entire trip. It was a fantastic way to spend our last few days in Italy – we will leave with fond memories of this little town, and the people we met there.
(Hope to have some pictures shortly… We took heaps!)
Updated: I have finally put the photo gallery up here.
Great post! My great-grandmother’s family, the Linfante’s, Di Blasio’s and Martino’s, came from San Lupo. My mother, sister and I paid a visit almost 10 years ago… We stayed for only a couple of hours so we did not get to see much. I remember how unbelievably narrow the streets and alleys were. I also recall the cemetery.
Many of my ancestors married into the Ciaglia family so I’m sure we’re related somehow.
Hey giasone80, thanks for your post.
We loved our time in Italy, and San Lupo was really something else – especially at festa time. As I understand it, Laura’s family don’t really have any direct relatives there any more – but a few very friendly and welcoming distant relatives.
We will have to get around to refering to our notes from our trip sometime and make sure we update our Family tree with new information we picked up from various family overseas.
Cheers.
Hi Laura and Lucas,
I think there is a good chance that we may be distant cousins as well. I have Proscinos (sometimes spelled Pruscino in the records) in my tree as well who originally came from San Lupo.
I have them going back to the
I would love to share info. with you and see if we are connected. I have gone pretty far back with my research (to the early 1700′s so far) and have already connected several other Proscino / Pruscino lines.
My email is alizagg@yahoo.com
Aliza
Hey aliza24, thanks for the post.
I will need to go back over our notes from the trip and make sure I update our Family tree with info we picked up from various family members while traveling.
All the information I have up to this point (we have really only started writing it down) is on the the web site. It would be good to exchange what we know to try and find a connection somewhere back in the line.
PS- sorry for the disconnected sentence above. I got a phone call in the middle of typing and lost my place.
I am not sure, but we must be related! I am assuming you know Luciana and Lorenzo Ciaglia in Australia – they are my husband’s cousins. Luciana’s mother and my mother-in-law are sisters and Lorenzo’s mother and my father-in-law are brother and sister. Anyway, we are traveling to San Lupo in 2010 and would like to know the name of the B&B that you stayed in if you wouldn’t mind. We are going for the feast with my in-laws and then thinking of heading to Sardinia for a week of relaxation. Thanks so much and wonderful information!
Hi lkmucci,
My parents in law have literally just got back from being in San Lupo for the festa. They had a great time!
I wish I had seen your comment about half an hour ago – I could have asked them – they would be much better placed to answer questions about family connections, etc.
I will pass the information onto them, and let you know what I can find out.
I have been working on putting together a family tree – mostly on my wife’s side (Pruscino) – but it would be great to fill in some of the gaps. You may have already seen it – http://familytree.modrich.com
Sorry I can’t remember the name of the B&B at the moment, but I will chase it down for you, and let you know.
I didn’t realise, but San Lupo has its own web site now – http://www.sanlupo.galtiterno.it/
Hi lkmucci,
Sorry for not getting back earlier but it has taken some time for me to actually track down the details of the place we stayed. We did take a number of business cards when we were there, but I think we must have handed them all out and forget to keep one for ourselves.
Anyway, the name of the place we stayed in is Coste delle Ianare. They have a web site which should provide you with all the information you need to get in contact with them and make a booking, etc.
Main web site:
http://www.costedelleianare.it
Contact information:
http://www.costedelleianare.it/contatti.htm
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