FEAST OF SAINT ALEXANDER
August 25 - August 26
Every year from Ischia’s Aragonese Castle a procession, consisting of more than 300 figurants, enlivens the island’s streets in a 4-kilometer structured route that, through the most important streets of the historic center, connects Ischia’s main monument to the village of Sant’Alessandro.
Greek colonists, who in the 8th century B.C. founded Pithekoussai and made the island the first colony in the Mediterranean, open the procession. Through a route that winds its way through centuries of history, we meet the protagonists of the Italian Renaissance with the families and characters who made it populated with legends: the D’Avalos, the Colonna, the Aragonese court, the Marquises del Vasto, kings and queens, princes and court dignitaries, whose costumes, reworked after careful studies of prints and portraits of the time, repopulate the streets of the island for a day.
The splendor of the 18th century followed with the reign of the Bourbons and the French decade. Traditional folk costumes are present: peasants, fishermen, spinners, fan sellers, evoking the ancient arts and crafts associated with the area. The event is organized by the St. Alexander Pro Loco and will cross the 40th edition milestone in 2024.
