Rome recreates a miracle snowfall each August.
Rome celebrates La Madonna della Neve (Our Woman of the Snows) by recreating a miracle snowfall outdoors the Basilica di S. Maria Maggiore through the peak of summer time.
The 2022 version of the spectacle, organised with the help of the town, the Vatican and the tradition ministry, will happen in Piazza di S. Maria Maggiore at 21.00 on Friday 5 August.
The snowfall and lightshow, historically accompanied by the Carabinieri band, will result in site visitors diversions within the space on Friday evening.
The ten.00 Mass in honour of La Madonna della Neve, which features a bathe of white flower petals dropped from the ceiling – repeated at 17.00 throughout Vespers – will happen within the basilica on 5 August as per custom.
What does the snowfall signify?
In line with legend, a fourth-century Roman couple wished to donate their possessions to the church, and prayed for divine steering.
On the evening of 4/5 August within the yr 352 the Virgin Mary appeared to the couple in a imaginative and prescient, telling them {that a} miracle would reveal a web site the place they need to construct a brand new church.
Pope Liberius is claimed to have travelled to the snow-covered web site, tracing an overview of the deliberate church whose development was financed by the rich couple.
Though there isn’t a historic foundation for the story, the occasion continues to be celebrated annually with the surreal spectacle of snow-like foam and suds falling from the sky.
Cowl photograph La Repubblica
