In the serene midsummer night, the whole town keeps watch, united in waiting for the The Sanctuary of the Madonna del Cervato or della Nevebells of the mother church to start ringing. Since time immemorial, every 26 July has been the beginning of one of the most significant community moments for the children of Sanza and for many other Cilento faithful.
After Mass, the fireworks signaling the celebration have been fired, and the march to the top of the mountain overlooking the town begins for them. All united in the long and bumpy climb among the clear rocks of Cervati, behind the venerated golden statue of the Madonna della Neve, enclosed in the wooden cradle used in the solemn annual outing. Carrying it on their shoulders along the path of about twelve kilometres, with an ever faster pace that seems to cancel out the effort, are the brothers of the Archconfraternity of Santa Maria della Neve. In groups of eight at a time, they take turns, strong and motivated, to keep alive the ancient rite for which they were already preparing as children. In the ascent to the mountain full of emotions and meanings, the “marunnari” sing devotees, setting the rhythm to the journey of the long line of faithful who follow them up the mountain, carrying the hundreds of candles and flowers prepared by the women to be left at the sanctuary.
The difference in height is strong from the approximately eight hundred meters of height of the town to the top of the highest mountain in Campania, a thousand meters above, but no one seems to suffer the difficulty of the undertaking. The young brothers accompany the climb to the sound of bagpipes, shawms, accordion and “tammorre”, while the bearers gradually increase the pace, wiping the sweat with specially embroidered tablecloths, received as a gift from their grandmothers when they joined the group of the archconfraternity. The procession includes only two stops, at the Poggi della Madonna, and in the steepest points of the narrow path it takes the form of a solemn and evocative human chain. We proceed for hours, in the night, while the “marunnari”, higher up, gain meters by progressively increasing speed. When dawn has already driven away the shadows of the night and the silhouette of the highest sanctuary in Cilento stands out familiarly near the summit, the race of the “marunnari” with the cradle begins, for the last stretch. Arrived at the top, in front of the church, they open the small doors of the wooden case and show the faithful the statue of the Madonna, once again carried up the mountain from which she takes another of her titles - Madonna del Cervati - as has been the case for centuries.
From that day of July 26, the feast of Sant'Anna, the statue of the Madonna and Child remains in the mountain sanctuary dedicated to her for about ten days, exactly until August 5, when, with another procession in the opposite direction, is reported by the “marunnari” and by the faithful in the parish church of Santa Maria dell'Assunta, in the ancient village of Sanza. In the rest of the year, this is the centre of the cult of Santa Maria delle Neve, represented by the sixteenth-century statue in gilded wood of Neapolitan manufacture, attributed to the workshop of Giovanni Meriliano da Nola and Domenico Napolitano, authors of other Marian effigies exhibited in the churches of the Vallo di Diano.
Previous to the year 1000, the church set in the white rocks of Cervati has been declared a sanctuary since 1993, when it became part of the so-called Seven Sisters, or the seven Marian sanctuaries of Cilento. Extremely simple in structure, with a local stone facade perfectly in harmony with the mountain, the sacred building is made up of two adjoining but distinct rooms dating back to different eras. The oldest part is the internal one, from the 9th century, with a rectangular plan and a vault with a pointed arch and an apsidal wall in which three niches open. It is the central niche that welcomes the statue from the village in those few summer days. The outermost room, built to make more room for pilgrims, dates back to the 18th century.
If it is only in the days between July 26 and August 5 that it also welcomes the most venerated statue, the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Neve is open to pilgrims and to worship, with the celebration of Sunday mass, from the first Sunday of June to the second of October. Taking care of the small church are brothers of the lay archconfraternity whose origin is probably coeval with that of the first church of Cervati and of the cult of which it is an expression in the community of Sanza. Where the group of over one hundred faithful is based in an 1863 chapel of the Campolongo family, close to the mother church of the Assunta. The confraternity is entered as a child, passing through successive stages of formation and integration which have the sense of a real initiation rite. Being part of the archconfraternity is still today a distinctive and strongly identifying element for the people of Sanza, who are dedicated to keeping alive the cult of the Madonna della Neve and all the rites and traditions that have been inspired by it over a thousand centuries of history. Starting with the summer pilgrimages, which due to their particularities have been recognized as an intangible cultural element of Campania.
The members of the archconfraternity also take care of the chapel located on the Cervati, just below the sanctuary. From this it is distinctly observed, together with the wonderful surrounding landscape.
The Grotto of the Madonna
Among the majestic beech trees of the summit of Cervati, in one of the cavities that dot the karst rock of the mountain, perhaps by the Greek monks of the monastery of Santa Maria di Sirippi near Rofrano, another statue of the Madonna was once placed, also much venerated. Its location is in a crack in the stone, the beginning of a cave that extends into the mountain, dedicated to the Virgin, represented by a Byzantine-style statue of refined workmanship.
To that older part of the small cave sanctuary, dating back to the early Middle Ages, another more welcoming room for the faithful was added in the 18th century. Tradition tells of a wider opening for access to the grotto of the Madonna, which however was narrowed by a miracle to prevent thieves from taking possession of the statue. The current one, in mortar and plaster, could in fact have replaced an older and more precious one. Already a cult object of Cilento pilgrims.
