The procession of the Varette

In Amantea, Good Friday is much more than a religious celebration: it is the beating heart of the town's popular and spiritual tradition. On 18 April 2025, starting at 9 a.m., the evocative Procession of the Varette, one of the most heartfelt and popular events of Holy Week in Calabria, will take place.

The procession starts from the Mother Church, in the historic centre, and crosses the main streets of the city for about 4 kilometres, in a suspended, almost unreal atmosphere. The city stops, silence dominates the streets, and everything is concentrated around the nine imposing ‘Varette’: statues carried on the shoulders of the faithful, representing scenes and characters from the last hours of Jesus' life, from the condemnation to the deposition.

The central figure is Mary of Sorrows, venerated with deep affection by a group of women who accompany her along the entire route with ancient and poignant songs, handed down orally like the funeral cries of ancestral cultures. To her is entrusted the most human and universal grief, that of a mother mourning her child.