FESTA DI SAN ZANE

In Triora, a small Ligurian village nestled in the Maritime Alps, June 23rd and 24th celebrate the Festa di San Zane, the local name for San Giovanni Battista (Saint John the Baptist). An ancient festival rooted in both pagan and Christian traditions, transforming the summer solstice night into a magical moment brimming with spiritual energy. On this particular night, when the boundary between the human and the supernatural grows thin, Triora revives ancestral rituals that continue to captivate visitors and locals alike.

The celebration is rich in symbolic meanings and traditions passed down through time. On June 23rd at 7:45 PM, the blessing and procession through the village streets begin, accompanied by the distribution of the characteristic stuffed onions, a typical dish of local tradition. The following day, June 24th, at 11 AM, a solemn mass is celebrated in the sanctuary of San Giovanni dei Prati, the famous 'San Zane'.

But the true magic of this festival lies in the rituals surrounding it: the lighting of bonfires symbolizing the sun and its purifying power, nighttime bathing in rivers as a rite of rebirth, the collection of dawn dew believed to be miraculous for skin ailments. Traditions that transform Triora into a place where the past dialogues with the present, where faith and mysticism intertwine in a truly unique celebration.