There are 418 historical re-enactments in Italy which have been cataloged through “event cards” processed by the Central Institute for Cataloging and Documentation (ICCD) through forms (EVE) which contain some information regarding the event investigated.
Of the list of 418 re-enactments, which includes “The Cavalcade of the Knights of the Star” which takes place in Messina on 6 January, 25 of these re-enactments have been documented “qualitatively”, carrying out field research and using the REIL sheet as a model – Register of Intangible Heritage of Lombardy.
Among these 25 (one for each region of Italy), that of Don Giovanni of Austria, in representing Sicily, is characterized by complexity and spectacularity, also thanks to a naval procession, unique in the Mediterranean, in which the Training ship of the Palinuro Navy and Institutional Naval Units and dozens of boats from the Messina and Calabrian coast.
Precisely for these characteristics, the re-enactment of the “Spectacular Landing of Don John of Austria” was studied during its development by an anthropologist who documented the planning and implementation phases, on behalf of the Central Institute of the Intangible Heritage of the Ministry of Culture.
“I am really happy – underlines the Councilor for Culture Enzo Caruso – that Messina has stood out for the presence of two re-enactments which have continuously taken place in the city for several years. The Cavalcade of the Knights of the Star, coordinated by the Association of the same name, and the spectacular Landing of Don Giovanni of Austria, one of the events that has become part of the Messina August tradition. That of Don Giovanni d’Austria, in particular, born in 2009, is one of the events of the Euro-Mediterranean Network “From Lepanto to the meeting”, promoted by the AURORA Association, the Greek Municipality of Lepanto and the Marco Polo Project of Venice , of which the Municipality of Messina was a founding member in 2015, together with other cities in Spain, Greece, Germany, Italy and the Canary Islands”.