The history
of SaSSari’s Candelieri

The origins of the Descent of the Candelieri

The first documents state that the Faradda started as a vow to the Madonna dell’Assunta, after the plague struck Sassari in 1652. Actually the origins of the celebration are older and seem to derive from a similar rite practiced in Pisa during the 14th century. In the Tuscan town, the night of August 14th the faithful carried in procession the votive wax inside some wooden tabernacles that over time took the form of wood pillars.

It’s likely that Sassari, the maritime Republic of Pisa’s ally, took part with an offering. Later, celebrating the festival every year on the eve of Ferragosto (the Feast of the Assumption) became customary in town. Meanwhile Sassari and Genoa joined forces, then in the 14th century Sassari passed under Spanish control and the Aragonese tried unsuccesfully to abolish the Faradda due to its huge costs.

The inhabitants of Sassari themselves decided to substitute the candlesticks with wooden machines, to save on raw materials. Since then, the gremi – guilds of arts and trades – have carried in procession tall pillars topped with flags:

the Candelieri were born.

The history
of SaSSari’s Candelieri

The origins of the Descent of the Candelieri

The first documents state that the Faradda started as a vow to the Madonna dell’Assunta, after the plague struck Sassari in 1652. Actually the origins of the celebration are older and seem to derive from a similar rite practiced in Pisa during the 14th century. In the Tuscan town, the night of August 14th the faithful carried in procession the votive wax inside some wooden tabernacles that over time took the form of wood pillars.

It’s likely that Sassari, the maritime Republic of Pisa’s ally, took part with an offering. Later, celebrating the festival every year on the eve of Ferragosto (the Feast of the Assumption) became customary in town. Meanwhile Sassari and Genoa joined forces, then in the 14th century Sassari passed under Spanish control and the Aragonese tried unsuccesfully to abolish the Faradda due to its huge costs.

The inhabitants of Sassari themselves decided to substitute the candlesticks with wooden machines, to save on raw materials. Since then, the gremi – guilds of arts and trades – have carried in procession tall pillars topped with flags:

the Candelieri were born.

A vow to the Madonna dell’Assunta to free SaSSari from the plague

According to tradition, in 1528 a plague epidemic ended on exactly August 14th through the intercession of the Virgin and San Sebastiano. Sassari formulated a vow to both, but only the vow to the Virgin has remained as a procession on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption. Since the 16th century, every August 14th the gremi have carried the candlesticks in procession from piazza Castello to Santa Maria of Betlem Church.

In 1855 the Faradda took place on December 1st, when a cholera epidemic finally ended after killing about 8000 people. Despite the continuing strong devotion, the celebration actually risked falling into disuse during the 19th century. Of the eight gremi participating, only five remained. Merchants and shepherds, tailors and wheelwrights either refused to take part in the Faradda or disbanded.

New gremi join the Assunta procession

In the first half of the 20th Century, the Municipality worked hard to bring the participants back to the Faradda. It convinced the tailors’ gremio to return and added new ones: carpenters, farmers, wayfarers, stonecutters. In 1955 the candelieri became nine. More recently the number has increased to eleven, with the re-admission of the butchers’ gremio and the entry of blacksmiths and porters.

Sassari’s Farada de li Candereri is part of the Italian Great Shoulder-Machines Network, which has been part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2013. These days about 100,000 people attend the festival, filling the town with people from all over the world.

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