THE SALUTE OF THE SIRENS

ACCOMPANIES THE PROCESSION AT SEA

• BARI
• TARANTO
• MONOPOLI (BA)
• POLIGNANO A MARE (BA)
• GALLIPOLI (LE)
• LESINA (FG)
• BRINDISI
• MOLFETTA (BA)

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Puglia, a land of patron saints and sailors, has always had a special relationship with its two seas that lap its eight hundred kilometres of coastline; the inhabitants' love for the sea, which is the source of life, is inevitable. As in fact happens in the Apulian capital for the feast of St Nicholas, it is the sea that is the most characteristic backdrop to the patronal festivities in many municipalities, where the entire seafaring community is mobilised for the celebrations.

While the sun is now tinging the landscape red as it disappears into the waters and the night sky lights its first stars, the evocative procession begins in TARANTO, capital of Magna Graecia, meeting point of the Ionian and Adriatic Seas, which have guarded the simulacrum of San Cataldo since ancient times. During the great May festival, it is a navy ship that welcomes the statue of the Irish saint, crossing the Grand Canal accompanied by decorated boats of all shapes and sizes, while a cascade of fireworks from the Aragonese Castle illuminates the mantle of evening descending on the city.

And it is also a great feast at the table with specialities from the sea and the land with the famous 'bombette tarantine', meat rolls stuffed with melted cheese cooked over the embers and served with the typical 'patate alla cenere' (ash potatoes).

From the sea we move on to the lakes of Apulia. LESINA (fg), in the Gargano National Park, with its mirror of brackish water together with that of Varano, is a town of paranze (fishing nets), pots, harpoons and chestnut poles: here, on the last Sunday in May, the statue of San Primiano is carried on the very waters of the lake aboard typical lagoon boats, called 'sandals': in the centre of the lake, the blessing of the waters takes place so that there is always an abundance of fish.

Moving southwards, it is inevitable to come across the 'suspended city', POLIGNANO A MARE (ba), an ancient fishing village, with its historic centre perched on a rocky spur jutting out into the crystal-clear waters of the Adriatic, which provides the backdrop for the evocative procession for the feast of the patron saint, San Vito, along the Polignano coast. Here the sea is certainly the protagonist even at the table for unforgettable banquets that end in beauty with the Polignano 'caffè speciale'.

In MONOPOLI (ba), the city of a hundred districts, it is from the sea that the sacred icon of the Madonna della Madia arrives: from the coast, admire how it approaches and recedes twice, and only on the third occasion does the icon of the Virgin allow itself to be taken to be shown to the applauding crowd and carried in procession through the streets of the old town centre.

Situated on the Via Traiana, the bridgehead between East and West, the sea festival for the patronal feast of San Teodoro and San Lorenzo in BRINDISI, a typically Messapian city - also famous for the Fico Mandorlato di San Michele Salentino, a typical product that has been recognised as a Slow Food presidium in Italy since 2012 - celebrates the memory of the translation from the East of the saint's relics to the Brindisi coastline. The 'Palio dell'Arca', a competition between small fishing boats (skifarieddi) that takes its cue from the recovery of the silver Ark containing the remains of St Theodore by fishermen in the 13th century, takes place during the festival.

Further down in Salento, in GALLIPOLI (le) - a name deriving from the Greek Kale Polis meaning 'beautiful city' - amidst the flavours of the unfailing scapece (fried and marinated small fish) and cupeta (the crispy crunch), the link between St Christine and the sea is staged, both in the religious aspect with the sea procession of the simulacrum on board a fishing boat, and in the civil aspect with the famous 'cuccagna': a pole leaning over the harbour quay and sprinkled with tallow, on the top of which an Italian flag is hoisted while young people compete by running along the pole to grab the flag.

September closes the period of sea festivals with the feast of Maria SS dei Martiri in MOLFETTA (ba).

Deep and ancient is the bond between the people of MOLFETTA (ba) and Our Lady of Martyrs, a sort of 'elective affinity', who together with 'Saint Conrad of Bavaria' - celebrated on 9 February and whose remains are preserved inside the Cathedral - are the patron saints of the city. The simulacrum of the Virgin, after the offering of the crown and the dressing with the gold donated by devotees, is entrusted to the hands of sailors and rocked by the waves on board fishing boats drawn for the occasion according to an ancient and precise ritual.

A multiform fleet of small boats ply the waters of the harbour and at sunset the statue is disembarked on the quay amid the high-pitched sound of the boats' sirens and the applause of the crowd for the procession towards the Cathedral.

Don't miss 'u cembott' tasty fish soup.

Photo by Peppe Carucci, Antonio D'Agostino, Gaetano Armenio