“We went barefoot, up to Belvedere Spinellocrossing the river, to ask thanks ». In the memory of grandmother Teresina Broccoloa hundred years but still a lucid mind, there is all the devotion that the community of Verzino I have been given for more than two centuries to the Madonna della Scala. The statue of the Virgin, which tradition wants miraculous, has always been kept in the church of Montespinello, from 2023 elevated to Marian sanctuary. A pilgrimage destination for the Verzinese that every year, between 14 and 15 August from time immemorial (first on the afternoon of the eve of the Assumption and then for a few decades in the night preceding the mid -August), on foot they travel the stretch that separates the center preference from the Municipality of the Neto Valley, through ancient paths and even wagging a torrent (the Cufolo), to reach the Sanctuary dedicated to Santa Maria della Scala. In this year, jubilee the devotion of the Verzinese to the Virgin of the Scala was rewarded with a pilgrimage to the meeting. In fact, it was the statue of the Madonna that reached this time Verzino, welcomed with all the honors by the mayor Franco Levato and the parish priest Don Pietro Paletta. Accompanied by the Portantini of the Volunteer Organization Pro Sanctuary Madonna della Scala, the sacred sculpture first stopped in vineyards and then around 5.30 pm he arrived in Piazza Campo in Verzino, for the first of the three days of prayer organized by the Madonna della Scala di Verzino Committee, chaired by the municipal councilor Mimmo Murgia.
After the welcome in the square, accompanied by the Pallagorio Music Band, the statue in procession reached the Mother Church. In the sixteenth -century Baroque temple, the parish priest of Verzino together with Don Silvestre Ngackira, parish priest of Belvedere officiated a mass to which he also witnessed the mayor of Belvedere Antonio Giuseppe Amato. The rite was accompanied by the Belvedere Spinello choir and by the singer -songwriter Salvatore Bellio. After the vigil, the statue was placed in the Mother Church for the visits of the faithful.
Tonight a torchlight procession is scheduled after the 18 and after an afternoon of prayer edited by prof. Domenicoantonio Daffinà. Tomorrow in the last of the three days the statue of the Madonna will be brought to the populous district of greenhouses for a greeting to the sacred sculpture in the square of the church of San Francesco di Paola. The statue will then return to its sanctuary of Belvedere Spinello, where a mass will be celebrated at 11 that will conclude the particular pilgrimage that has strengthened the centuries -old link between the two communities in the name of Santa Maria della Scala.