Prima DELL'ALBA

The Residence
SERPE SOTTO LA PIETRA is part of the Habitat project, an initiative of Pennabilli Antiquariatorealised in partnership with Chiocciola la casa del nomade, Placebo Collettive e Paesaggi Migranti, funded by Action Aid Italia E.T.S and Realise Change Foundation in the framework of The CARE - Civil Actors for Rights and Empowerment project, co-funded by the European Union. 

Abstract
Since antiquity, man has entrusted the most critical moments of his personal existence and of the community of which he is a part to ritual. According to the anthropologist Ernesto de Martino, ritual was created to help man endure a "crisis of presence", which it feels when faced with the inexplicable phenomena of nature. 

In an age when scientific theories offer new insights into the unknown, making natural disasters predictable and physical or mental illnesses curable, what is the actual function of ritual today?

The proposed investigation into the theme of "ritual" originates in an area, the Valmarecchia, where the natural and the divine coexist as two sides of the same coin, where the boundary between pagan and Christian is merely a point of view filtered by one's own cultural background and the sensibilities of the surrounding community. 

“Spirituality” here is resilient, changeable, and alive, manifesting itself as a tangible possibility.

If the “snake” is the superstition that slithers beneath the “stone” of evangelization, “spirituality” becomes a hiss echoing through the ravines, tinnitus for those who don’t want to “hear.” 

The Night of San Giovanni (June 23rd and 24th), a celebration of the summer solstice, is the day when two worlds, the Serpent and the Stone, Pagan and Christian, meet par excellence. Ritual-filled, it becomes the setting for the analysis of two "untranslatable spaces" in the area: the cells (or maestadine) and the Acqua di San Giovanni.

The cells of Valmarecchia
Tradition says “At midnight on the night of St. John, the streets, more precisely the crossroads, are traversed by terrifying hordes of witches and the unwary who stumbles upon such encounters risks his life or may lose his mind” (Marco Renzi, 1998, Il Rospo d’Oro). 

At crossroads, where witches and demons manifest themselves in their essence, cells were historically erected, testimonies of "stone" in the territory, "untranslatable spaces" with a strong spiritual character and a protective function for the community.

The cells examined in this photographic survey are located within the Pennabilli district and documented over the course of an entire day. All photographs are accompanied by GPS coordinates, with the aim of creating a digital geographic map of their presence. Although the selected geographical area is currently small, the project lays the foundation for possible future implementation.

The suspended multitude of maestadines is presented as a “photo-radiographic” act of interpretation. 

An invitation to look beyond the physical object and immerse yourself in the spiritual significance of this territory.

The rite
The anthropologists A. Van Gennep and M. Fortes see the social and cultural function of the ritual as primary, considering the religious context secondary. 

In order to survive over time, the rites have been shaped, regenerated, sometimes converted, changing name and face, so as not to lose the strong identity of a community that saw itself in them.

In this intangible heritage, passed down from generation to generation, that an individual's true sense of belonging to a place resides, translating into "collective spirituality".

The rediscovery and dissemination of rites, understood as the energy of a territory, could be an answer, today, to a "crisis of essence” of the individual in search of his identity.

In an effort to help generate a new "collective memory" of the Pennabilli area, we invite you to immerse yourself in the ritual of the Night of San Giovanni, allowing yourself to be "bathed" by tradition.

San Giovanni's water
“From the belief that in certain periods of transition (solstice) nature and some of its components acquire extraordinary powers” ​​(Marco Renzi,1998, Il Rospo d’Oro), borns the apotropaic rite of San Giovanni's Water.

A ritual that belongs to the darkness, beneath the uncertain light of the moon. St. John's wort, lavender, rosemary, fragrant herbs, and flowers are gathered before daybreak, immersed in water, and left beneath the night sky of June 23rd. At dawn, those who bathe in this scented water welcome the passage, let go of the old, and entrust themselves to the new. It is a ritual still active in the Penne community and links the healing power of nature to the blessing of St. John the Baptist, a figure of passage and purification.