La Festa del Redentore in Nuoro, Sardinia

This week we’re staying on the island of Sardinia to celebrate La Festa del Redentore, The Feast of the Redeemer, in Nuoro—and I’m offering you several videos since the celebration has distinct parts.

The Feast of the Redeemer runs from 22-29 August and culminates with a pilgrimage of the faithful from Nuoro’s Cathedral to the 7-meter tall bronze statue of Christ the Redeemer on Monte Ortobene, 955 meters above sea level. The statue has sat on this mountain since the 29th of August, 1901 after Pope Leo XIII chose Monte Ortobene as one of 20 sites that would hold monuments dedicated to Christ the Redeemer in honour of the Jubilee Year.

Now, each Sunday morning before the 29th of August features the Sfilata delle maschere del Carnevale Barbaricino, a lively parade full of masks and costumes, which you can in the first video of the playlist further sown. The afternoon sees another parade of about 5,000 people wearing colourful, traditional costumes from all around Sardinia; check out examples in the three videos following the first one (which also feature some great Italian music as well).

Then, later in the evening, groups of Sardinian folk dancers compete to be chosen to participate in the final night’s competition; for traditional Sardinian dancing, go here.

The last video gives a great overall view of Nuoro, with special attention paid to the Festa del Redentore and Monte Ortobene:

Now, you may have heard of Venice’s famous Festa del Redentore, and we will talk about that eventually because it is certainly one of the biggest celebrations in Italy, but next week we’re headed to Venezia for a very different reason. Be sure to come back and find out why!