OUR LADY OF PORTO SALVO

The last Saturday of April.

 THE LEGEND
The legend tells of a girl of Melito kidnapped by the Turks to whom
the Virgin granted to make the return journey on the native places
with a small boat where she was also embellished with an effigy of
the Madonna. A newsstand was erected in the landing area and the
sanctuary was built. Tradition wants the picture inside the
sanctuary arrived here in Melito from Turkey in ancient times.
According to legend, in fact, the sacred effigy, found on the beach
by the Melitese sailors in 1600, is kept in the Sanctuary dedicated
to the same, precisely in the place where it was found and,
subsequently, due to the renovation of the sanctuary, is moved to
the church of the SS Apostles Peter and Paul in Pentedattilo. From
then on the inhabitants decided that the painting, even for a short
period, remained in their country. It has been like this for centuries
 THE PAINTING
The painting of the Madonna of Porto Salvo, which is located on the altar of
the church of Porto Salvo, depicts the Madonna with Child while protecting a
ship at the mercy of the waves. It is possible to suppose that the canvas was
created concurrently with the construction of the building,
built in 1680 at the behest of the Marquis Domenico Alberti
of Pentedattilo, on the remains of an older church that stood,
in the locality, "Portus Veneris".
The work, as reiterated by Solferino,
could therefore be considered the result of Antonio
Cilea, a reggino artist who worked between the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
 THE PROCESSION
Maria SS. of Porto Salvo, ,as tradition, is carried in procession to Pentedattilo, where it
Stops about a month, in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, for an ancient vow of the Marquis
Domenico Alberti. The festival takes place on the last Saturday of the month of April with great
participation and devotion, and for this reason the Vara is always brought to the rhythm of
dance with the music of the Band. The day before, on Friday afternoon, a short procession takes
place through the streets of Pentedattilo, and so on Saturday the procession leaves in the
morning from the Church arriving to the river where the arrival is scheduled around noon, and
the Sacred Effigy is delivered to the sailors , on an artistic Vara, where they take her to the
Sanctuary. Entry will take place in the early afternoon. The festival has its climax the following
Sunday with the procession through the main streets of Melito di Porto Salvo. The painting
comes out in the afternoon from the Sanctuary and so arrives in the country, where the most
salient moments are: the stop in the square of the First Aid; another stop in the hospital; the
route in the Marina district, where the Porters celebrate the entrance of the Madonna in their
neighborhood, taking it to the two bridges that line the beach; and then at the moment when
Our Lady heads towards the place of the change of the Bearers, where the women of the
marine district walking in front of the Vara slow down the procession, as if they wanted to
remove as far as possible the inevitable moment of delivery. Having arrived in front of the
Palazzo degli Alberti, the Sacred Effigy is handed over to the Terrazzani, bearers of the upper
part of the town. The procession starts again and then stops with a brief stop in the Archpriest
Church and then continues through the narrow streets of the Old Town, arriving in the return
road, where the sound of the bells returns to the Shrine in the late evening.
 THE DEPARTURE FROM
PENTEDATTILO
On the day of redelivery of the painting to the melitesi, the whole town of
Melito, from the very first hours of the morning, comes into ferment. From 5 am the first
movements can be noticed: the streets begin to swarm with people and boys who meet with their
rucksacks in front of bakeries or bars. A fleeting breakfast and on foot to Pentadattilo:
about seven kilometers of road that climbs between the hills of melitesi. So, just after dawn, the
road that leads to Pentidattilo is filled with pilgrims as if to form a river, offering a colorful and
joyful spectacle.
At the end of the SS. When the noise of the crowds breaks out, breaking the silence that surrounds the
walls of this splendid and characteristic village almost completely ruined.
Finally, the painting of the Madonna leaves the church triumphantly at the sound of the old bell and
the applause of the faithful. Thus began his slow journey back to the shrine of Melito.

The porters, masterfully guided by their head vara, before taking the road of the return turn the
painting of the Virgin towards the village and, between the prayers and the commotion of the
pentidattilesi, elegantly start to dance on the notes of the band, asking Maria a last blessing.
 THE PROCESSION AND THE
CHANGE OF THE PAINTING
The procession winds for several kilometers
and the people who follow the Madonna are
counted by the thousands.

A glimpse of the procession of the return in the hills and the

Pentidattilo cliff in the background Finally after several
hours we arrive in Contrada Tabacco, precisely in the place
called livareddi, where, in the bed of the fiumara, now
almost completely dry and dry, awaits celebrating the
arrival of the venerated effigy another multitude of people.
Around midday, the arrival of the Madonna.
Shortly before, on the highway 106, which
dominates the torrent, the traffic is interrupted.
Dozens and dozens of cars stop on the road and
hundreds of devotees, crowded behind the barriers
of protection of the bridge, wait to see the sweet
image of Mary. With a triumphal vara with a
crown and canopy, the sailors (fishermen) wait
impatiently for Our Lady. It's nice to see those
men's sunburnt faces, that simple and genuine joy
that brings nostalgia to the carefree childhood.

Once the Madonna is received, the fishermen

incite the crowd to shout their hurray to Mary,
and, under the tired and lost looks of the
pentidattilesi, continue carrying the vara to the
Sanctuary.
The following day, Sunday, the party starts again, this time right in the village, and
Melito wakes up to explode the barrels! Meanwhile the S.S. Masses and the most
solemn Mass is expected, which usually seen the numerous rushing of the faithful is
celebrated outdoors. At about 15 o'clock the procession begins along the streets of the
village; also in this circumstance the esaltaction is maximum and the Madonna is
almost always brought to dance rhythm
The carriers of vara continue
in the direction
of the Sanctuary,
where in the late evening
the procession will end.
When the Lady is going to enter the church
she is greeded by fireworks:
 THE EVENING
Once the religious rites are over, the civil festivities begin. to animate the evening
there are local music groups that play while the citizens are walking around to the
banks, where you can buy household items, toys and taste the typical products of
Calabria: olives, chilies, cheeses and salami. the most famous and tasty is the so-
called "paninu cu saddizzu", a sandwich with sausage.

(Sandwich with sausage)

(local music group)

 (guys having fun)
(Banks)
For the youngest the fun continues on the rides:
With great melancholy ends so the festivities in
honor of our lady, we'll see her next year.
Thank you for watching our video,
kisses from Italy.
The girls: Natasha Iacopino, Domenica Laurenzano,
Federica Miraglia, Sara Ravenda, Luisa Praticò.