The Battenti of Guardia Sanframondi: Faith in Their Hands

In Guardia Sanframondi, in the heart of Sannio, faith is made flesh and manifests through a universal and poignant language: that of the hands. Every seven years, an entire community gathers for the Seven-Year Rites of Penitence, a centuries-old heritage that goes beyond mere tradition. This reportage doesn't focus on dates or events, but on the profound meaning of every single gesture. It's a journey that explores how devotion, penance, and community bonds take shape in a touch, a grasp, an act of offering.

Hands, Blood, and Silence: Faith Made into Gesture

The hands are the true thread of this story, the means by which the Battenti communicate their profound state of mind, remaining veiled and unknown to the crowd. The figure of the Battente is not just that of a penitent, but of a faithful individual who has chosen to offer their body as an instrument of atonement. The Rites are a spiritual journey, a solemn vow made to the Madonna Assunta to ask for a grace. Every strike, every act of penitence, is an expression of prayer, a way to unite one's own pain with that of Christ. It's not an act of self-harm, but an offering made with the soul and the body, in a mystical union that transcends pure physicality. Pain in this context is purification, a means to reach a higher and more profound spiritual dimension.

The Silent Story of Sacrifice

In the photographs, you will see hands that carry the weight of penance, gripping the instruments of sacrifice: the crown of thorns, rosaries, crucifixes. These are hands that are stained with blood, grasping the sponge of pins to inflict the wound, while others offer wine to disinfect, in a ritual that is at once pain and healing..

You will see reflective and penitent hands, moving with precise intent, sometimes alone in the space among the hooded crowd, other times beating their chests in unison in an act of collective sacrifice. You will see the strength in the hands that support the statue of the Virgin, and the humility in those that join together in silent prayer. Each gesture tells a story of deep devotion, an intimate and unbreakable pact between the faithful and their protecting Virgin.

These are calloused hands, the hands of simple people, the hands of sons and fathers, who pass this rite down from generation to generation. It is they, with their gestures, who tell the story of a faith that lives and is renewed, that attracts pilgrims and draws emigrants back home, uniting the entire community in a single, powerful collective prayer.

In an era of frenzy and distraction, these hands remind us that faith is a tangible act, a story that is passed down, a gesture of love that can be transmitted from one hand to another, from generation to generation. This is the true legacy of the Seven-Year Rites of Guardia Sanframondi.

Giampiero D’Antonio

Warning: Some content may offend your sensibilities

The chestnut, the Queen of the Apennines.

Autumn is not a season but a state of mind, the highest magic that nature can express in its circularity, and in this palette of colours, chestnut reigns, the Queen of this territory during the autumn season.

The chestnut is the undisputed symbol of autumn, with its brown color and its scent when roasted and its unmistakable flavour, in short, a real feast for the senses!

At the height of the chestnut season, the entire territory comes alive in the collection of the latest delicacies that the forest grants before the silent winter arrives. When the days are still warmed by the tender autumn sun and the forest is filled with intense colours and scents, immersing yourself in nature is the most relaxing and intoxicating thing that nature can offer us.

In the past, the arrival of autumn brought great excitement in families, throughout the year the undergrowth was kept clean, where there was a chestnut tree, the soil was cleared of weeds and carefully mowed. The wood had to be in place to be able to collect the fallen chestnuts, the harvest began between the end of September and the first week of October and continued until November; it was a job that was done in the family, by hand, collecting them in baskets and wicker baskets.

Each family collected chestnuts in the woods, no one collected those in the property of others, but after the large harvest, the woods were made available to all those who did not have a wood where they could collect them.

The collection was done several times a day, the boys went to collect before going to school and continued on their return; today chestnuts are harvested with the help of nets, especially in modern intensive fruit chestnut groves or even through mechanical harvesting with vacuum cleaners and harvesters but not in this place, where the tradition where the tradition of manual harvesting are still alive despite the difficulties.

Once the daily harvest is finished, the selection process begins, the bad chestnuts are completely discarded while the smaller ones are set aside and sold at lower prices.

Fortunately, after years of suffering, due to poor harvesting, due to a killer-insect, the chestnut gall wasp, the chestnut groves have returned to produce an important quantity of fruit of excellent quality.

However, the problems are certainly not lacking, the depopulation of inland areas, with masses of the population, mostly young people who move to the cities, has taken away labor from the collection, and this leads the older generations to additional efforts or, in alternative, foreign labor.

A legend tells that in a mountain forest where, next to a huge tree full of chestnuts, lived a family of hedgehogs made up of mum, dad and their children. Daily a group of hungry squirrels approached the tree to eat its fruits, but one day, the little family thought about taking a walk in the woods and, hearing many complaints, curiously approached the tree to see what was happening. He noticed that the chestnuts were complaining because those spiteful inhabitants ate them. Together, then, they came up with a nice plan: when the squirrels arrived, the chestnuts would hide inside the hedgehogs. So they did and, since then, the small rodents, stinging each other, never came near the chestnuts and they, to protect themselves, kept their husk.

The chestnut plays an important role in this territory as well as in many hilly and mountain areas of Italy, not only for the production of fruit and wood, but also for the protection of the territory and for the protection of the environmental and hydrogeological structure.

Traveling in an original way, beyond the usual destinations, with a spirit of discovery, allows you to find unexpected surprises: places, stories and flavours of inestimable value.

This little journey that focuses on chestnut is intended as an original, different proposal, an opportunity to get to know territories rich in history, nature and culture.

Getting lost in the beauty of these centuries-old woods makes us feel the sweetness and grandeur of Nature.

The Harvest, its charm its history.

The harvest is the moment in which the grapes, grown in the vineyard throughout the year, are harvested and taken to the cellar to begin the winemaking process, which with the alcoholic fermentation of the sugars contained in the ripe berries will transform the must into wine.

The harvest represents not only an annual event linked to work in the vineyard, but also a ritual inserted in agricultural traditions throughout Italy and has always brought with it a great charm and has both historical and anthropological value, inherent in social sharing and in the territory.

The historical and anthropological value of the harvest dates back to very ancient times and has been handed down from generation to generation through agricultural work methods and peasant traditions, as well as for the importance of its cultural and traditional aspects that distinguish the harvest as an annual work event and social sharing in the territory.

In many respects, the harvest still takes on a ritual moment today, has a rather strong social and communion meaning, in which men and women come together and work together for the same goal. The social and ritual role that characterizes the harvest was even stronger in recent decades, when friends, relatives and neighbors gathered in the vineyards, all working together in the vineyards and then celebrating with a rich banquet.

Here we are in the heart of Abruzzo, the green region of Europe, not far from Campo Imperatore, in a territory that has proved generous for the properties of the land and for the climate, which, working together, allow these vineyards, mostly Montepulciano, to produce a full-bodied and warm wine, just like the territory that hosts it.

Respect for nature, care for the territory, the use of only natural fertilizers, allows the vine to be cultivated in its habitat, with the spontaneous herbs that grow around it, with a developed biodiversity, the plant is thus able to produce fruit balanced that express all the typical characteristics of the territory in which it grows. The wine obtained, completely organic, is a healthy, natural and genuine product that respects not only the environment and the ecosystem but also protects the health of those who consume it, the producer himself and those around us, being devoid of any component chemical inside.

There are numerous difficulties encountered in cultivating an organic vine; difficulties that recur every day, especially when the critical years put the producers under pressure who, to protect the harvest, must use only natural products. This, however, always leads to improvement and to give the best every year to offer a wine that is 100% organic and healthy.

To naturally combat the diseases that can affect the vine, copper is the product that best adapts to this need, within the limits allowed by law. The vine is a plant that tolerates this natural component quite well but it is still a product that is dispersed in the soil.

After the grape harvest, we proceed with the pressing.

Once the peasants crushed grapes in tubs with bare feet.

Today it is carried out using machinery called '' destemmers '' which allow the elimination of the stalks before they pass through the rollers, reducing the risk of crushing them and releasing the bitter and astringent vegetable juice.

The must is then placed in large vats to ferment for about a week.

The fermenting must is left in contact with the skins and seeds that release the typically red color and tannins.

Finally, there will be the racking followed by aging which consists in decanting the wine, purified from the solid residues and the marc into the barrels, where a second fermentation and a further transformation of the residual sugar take place.

Those who, like us, are lucky enough to go and visit a vineyard, have the wonderful opportunity to grasp the enchantment of Nature that dominates and determines everything , an opportunity to witness one little special story made of simplicity and tradition.