Vi racconto quel che ho scoperto sui serpari, sull'Abruzzo e soprattutto sull'Abruzzo dei serpari. Una storia più antica e affascinante di quel che tutti possiamo immaginare.
The veneration of San Domenico di Foligno is widespread across the central Italian territories in which he preached Christianity, largely conforming to an Italian Catholic visual canon, yet in the popular public processions of the Abruzzo... more
The veneration of San Domenico di Foligno is widespread across the central Italian territories in which he preached Christianity, largely conforming to an Italian Catholic visual canon, yet in the popular public processions of the Abruzzo Valley village of Cocullo, his image is additionally aligned with that of living snakes, part of a long standing folk tradition associating them with prosperity, fertility and healing. Medieval Christian processions such as that of the Festa dei Serpari are rooted in pre-Christian belief and ritual to a regional goddess, known to the Romans as Bona Dea, the "Good Goddess", or to the Italic Marsi tribes that preceded them as Angizia, the Goddess of Snakes.
