The last night of the festival, the 18th of July, the Madonna has a tour of the town and visits several areas before returning to her home at Chiesa del Carmine. It's usually a roundabout time as to when she will be arriving, give an hour or so and surprisingly the girls held it together pretty well. As you can see in the picture with my dad and the girls, it was still pretty light when we first arrived and claimed a spot. As you can also see, Sofia was still in the let's-make-a-funny-face-picture-mode.
My handsome husband. He is so great to really want to be a part of this tradition of celebrating the Festa della Madonna del Carmine. It means a lot to me to be there, to have our girls begin the tradition too and he never complains. God bless him!
We brought Dollar Store glow necklaces with us to Italy which were a big hit with both Sofia and Olivia. I used them mainly the nights of the festival since I knew we would be out late but they sure came in handy. Olivia is mesmerized in this picture, the Madonna is just passing us with the band right behind. Not sure what she could possibly be thinking but I love the look on her face.
Look at all those Italians!
Massimo and his girlfriend, Elvira. Love him! Have known him just about my entire life.
At this point in the evening we had already...stood through the procession, gone to the rides with the girls, visited some cousins at their home, taken the girls back to our house to put them to bed, waited for my parents to return to stay at the house with them while they slept, and gone back out to meet up with friends. It had been a loooong time since I stayed out as late as I did those 3 nights of the festival. Very tired the next morning, but so worth it.
Out with my cousin and good friends...
I love the lights of the festival. My pictures really can not capture their grandness, you have to see it to believe it. Until we see one another again...
CHE BELLA MESAGNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete