Here in the Compound, we start to get excited when July rolls around and Trastevere’s annual Festa dei Noantri nears. The week-long celebration seems to be a combination of two things: while, in Roman dialect, “festa dei noantri” means the celebration of “we the others” and refers to people who live in Trastevere district rather than across the river in the centro storico, that celebration of the “Trastevere others” is combined with adulation of the Madonna del Carmelo or the Madonna Fiumarola, an image of the Virgin Mary that was miraculously fished out of the Tiber River and has since agreed to protect the neighborhood.
Each year, on a mid-July Saturday evening, the Festa dei Noantri is kicked off with a procession by which the Madonna Fiumarola tours the Trastevere neighborhood. Streets are closed and those Trasteverini who are not participating in the procession push and shove their way to the front of the crowds in order to get the best possible view of the Virgin.
The procession begins when the Virgin takes leave of her usual home, the church of Sant’Agata in Largo San Giovanni de Matha. This year, her departure from the church was especially celebratory, being marked by thousands of pieces of gold mylar ribbon that fluttered down from the heavens as she made her way into the street.
Representatives of Rome’s dashingly-dressed Carabinieri sit astride noble horses and lead the way through the neighborhood, followed by a lively police band. This year the city’s mayor, Gianni Alemanno (see above, he’s wearing the striped sash) also joined the celebration, as did hundreds of devotees.
As the Madonna winds her way down the Via della Lungaretta and the Via della Luce, local residents lean out their windows, shouting, “Viva Madonna” and joining in with the chanted prayers that are broadcast by means of portable speakers carried by strapping Roman youths.
Carried through the neighborhood atop a litter that weighs hundreds of pounds, the Madonna makes stops at all the local churches, including Santa Maria della Luce, San Francesco a Ripa, and San Cosimato, while crowds eagerly anticipate her arrival at ever corner.
The movement through the neighborhood takes several hours adn at the end of the procession, the Virgin is placed in the church of San Crisogono on Viale Trastevere, where she receives visitors until midnight before being returned to Sant’Agata by means of a candlelight procession. She’ll remain in Sant’Agata, splendidly decked out in a new dress made just for the occasion, visited by droves of faithful for a week, before being taken on another journey, this time down the Tiber River from Castel Sant’Angelo to the riverbanks in Trastevere and on to the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
We cover this event every year and so we have a whole range of spectacular photos taken by Susan Sanders (including those in this entry). The procession varies in size and quality each year, so you’ll want to click on over to these other entries to see the Madonna as she makes her way through the ‘hood each and every year:
On the legend of La Madonna Fiumarola and to see the Virgin escorted by Roman soldiers, click here.
The Madonna on the River: click here and here.
A devotee of the Madonna Fiumarola advocates for peace: click here.
For the 2008 procession including a close-up view of the Madonna statue, click here.
In particular, artists were asked to take their inspiration from verses 1-9 of Canto III of the Inferno, words that Dante reads as he stands at the edge of the world of the damned souls:
Other cardboard box-conveyed messages included, “My home has melted” and “I’m a climate refugee.”
Oh yeah, eCoolers. This is what you’ve all been waiting for! Chariot racing on the Wii. 
