Here I am sitting at a table with complete strangers I only met five minutes ago while looking out of the window of my B&B. They gestured for me to join their little dinner party and are now feeding me beautiful food and wine accompanied by laughter and good music. This makes it click that something amazing is about to happen.
It’s the Saturday evening before the Festival of the Mysteries, the most important event of the year in Campobasso, and the capital of Molise is buzzing with excitement and anticipation. The main piazza is filled with stalls selling artisanal goods and local specialities, like mussillo (boiled veal face with salt and lemon), nocelle (peanuts), and the legendary panino zozzo – which, despite its name (literally, dirty sandwich), is heaven. People get together and stay out until late, anxiously waiting for the first light of Sunday, because that’s when the magic happens.
GRAND PROCESSION
The Festival of the Mysteries is a grand procession of thirteen scenes from the Old and New Testaments that parades through the streets of Campobasso on the Sunday of Corpus Christi in June. It might sound fairly tame, but that’s only until you see children floating in the air and a devil sinking his teeth into a calf’s tail.
This event is unique in so many ways. For a
