The Serpari Festival of Cocullo

The "Festa dei Serpari" takes place in Cocullo on May 1 each year. On this day St. Dominic the Abbot is celebrated, and in its history the sacred and profane are intertwined. According to local tradition, the saint removed a tooth, donated it to the people, and thus gave rise to a faith so strong that it took the place of the pagan cult of the Goddess Angizia, protector of poisons, including that of snakes. This is precisely where the interweaving with pagan tradition comes from: on the feast day, the statue of St. Dominic is wrapped in snakes (alive and well, but not poisonous) and carried in procession through the streets of Cocullo! The "serpari" are in fact the people in charge of capturing the snakes, which are then returned to their natural habitat at the end of the rite. The festival is recognized by UNESCO as an intangible heritage of humanity.