Easter in Abruzzo in a simple snapshot: exploring its ceremonies and processions over the revered holy weekend and recipes eaten locally to welcome spring and take on the first picnic of the year.

CEREMONIES

La Processione del Venerdi Santo, Chieti (Good Friday)

Read more – Chieti’s Good Friday’s Procession – La Processione del Venerdì Santo

La Madonna Che Scappa, Sulmona, Easter Sunday

Read more – Hope Spring Maternal – Sulmona’s La Madonna che Scappa

Interesting Photo Journals

Pier Luigi Fabrizio records the Ortona Good Friday procession, which is entrusted, managed and supervised traditionally by females and looks at the focus in the preparation of the event from family to family, from woman to woman, from mother to daughter.

FOOD & RECIPES

Fiadoni

Recipe for Fiadoni – Fee-fi-fo-fum – I Smell A Gorgeous Cheese Pastry

Easter Lamb

Recipe for Easter Agnello Cacio e Ovo from Santo Stefano di Sessanio

La Pupa e il Cavallo Biscuits

They were traditionally baked by Nonna on Good Friday to give to her grandchildren as a present although many a Mamma made them too. The horses were given to boys and the girls were given doll-shaped ones, some people also make hearts, boats, and baby geese but collectively they are known as ‘la pupa e il cavallo’.

The eggs they contain would have been blessed and also would be a symbol of fertility. They were also exchanged between a newly engaged couple as gifts, and there has been an interpretation of them being an informal breaking of bread and sharing ceremony for kids hence their large size.

Author: Sam Dunham

Sam is a very lucky midlife Mum to A who is 13 and juggles working as a freelance SEO copywriter with teaching IGCSEs at Istituto Cristo Re in Rome. She is the founder of the Life In Abruzzo Cultural Association, co-founder of Let's Blog Abruzzo and the 'English in the Woods' initiative.