CALENDAR OF EVENTS

a calendar full of numerous shows and folkloric presentations, everyday life scenes as colourful as they are enjoyable and bizarre to the eyes of the tourist. Theatre, music, comedy festivals and historical commemorations are performed in all different places: piazzas, parks, castles, in small town, all over the place.

January 16th -17th: Collelongo LE COTTORE. Big copper pots where corn, called cicerocchi, is boiled. Procession of girls bearing copper pots decorated with flowers and ribbons. At the end there is the prize-giving for the most beautiful "conca".

Easter: Sulmona. There is the celebration of "Madonna che scappa" (Madonna running in square): her statue runs towards the statue of the resurrected Christ accompanied by doves flying, red roses and fireworks.

1st Thursday of May: Cocullo. San Domanico e i Serpari (the Procession of Snake-hunters): the statue of the saint is draped by live snakes and paraded through the streets of the small town. It derives evidently from the celebrations of the Marsi, known in the ancient Rome as snake enchanters.

Last Sunday of May: Rocca di Mezzo. Festa del Narciso (The Festival of the Narcissus): floats parade with narcissus flower arrangements whose sweet scent fill the air in the village.

August 28th-29th: L'Aquila: La perdonanza Celestiniana (Celestine's Forgiveness): is the celebration of the crowning of Celestine the 5th as a Pope, carried with great medieval pomp and ceremony such as the "Papal Bull procession" and the RForgiveness Rite.