Innovative Program Hosted Inside Ottaviano’s Traditional Rite of Festa di San Michele

A Festive Program to (Re)Live the Rites of Festa di San Michele of Ottaviano.

We have been excited to curate and produce an innovative program hosted inside Ottaviano’s traditional rite of Festa di San Michele. This program was developed by Giovanni Ambrosio for Vesuvio Adventures, a local cultural association, who has a passion for integrating innovation with tradition.

The program was meticulously written to enhance the experience of the attendees of the Festa di San Michele and to enhance a previous installation called il Monumento Desiderato. It incorporates elements of the traditional rite, while also introducing innovative features that are designed to engage and entertain the attendees. It also invites us to analyse the notion of rite and festa themselves.

 The result is a program that not only respects the tradition of the Festa di San Michele but also adds a modern twist to it. 

Emanuele Errante: A Sonic Journey Through Emotion and Tradition

On a memorable Saturday, May 18, the air of Ottaviano was filled with anticipation as sound artist Emanuele Errante made his return after his filed recording work during the day of Saint Michael, ten days earlier. His mission was not just to answer questions, but to evoke deep emotions: Can we preserve a trace of our rites? Can we make it our own, and revisit it?  Errante offered us a different kind of memory, one that resonates in our hearts and echoes in our minds.

Errante  collected sounds amidst the festivities. These were not just any sounds, but the heartbeat of our shared experiences. These sounds were then presented to us in the sacred space of the deconsecrated church of the Ave Gratia Plena convent. Through his artistic interpretation, Errante invites us to experience these sounds in a new light, to feel the pulse of tradition, and to see ourselves in a different way.

Our choice of venue, the deconsecrated Church of the Ave Gratia Plena convent on Via salita san Michele, was a deliberate one. We wanted to invite people to rediscover this space, to feel its history, and to learn its stories. The panels we installed narrate the history of the church and of San Michele, each one a testament to our rich heritage.

Embracing Tradition: A Day of Pasta, Peas, and Preservation in the Heart of Ottaviano

On Sunday, May 19, we have opened one of the private gardens of the historic centre of Ottaviano , Nappo Property.. How many times have you eaten pasta and peas on the day of the patron saint’s feast, May 8, reproducing a spring rite? We eat a bit of pasta and peas, the Centogiorni variety, from the Vesuvian area. Farmers of the Slow food “Pisello centogiorni” garrison explained the long history of a peculiar kind of  pea.

The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity  was founded by Slow Food International and Slow Food Italy and is the operational body for the protection of food biodiversity. Born in Florence in 2003 with the contribution of the Tuscany Region, it coordinates and promotes Slow Food projects to protect food biodiversity all over the world: Presidia, Ark of Taste, gardens in Africa, Slow Food Alliance of chefs and Earth Markets. In the Vesuvian territory, peas were a daily food already at the time of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans. Over the centuries, farmers have selected different varieties, including the so-called centogiorni, cultivated in the Vesuvius area for at least a century. Its name is linked to the average duration of the production cycle.