Women Walking to the Sanctuary of San Giovanni d’Andorno
tipologia
16mm - HMBURAFAM-0043
girls
traditions
sanctuary
family
landscape
In 1963, Virgilio Buratti Zanchi films a festive day at the Sanctuary of San Giovanni d’Andorno, a pilgrimage site dating back to the medieval period and deeply rooted in the popular devotion of Biella. Situated at 1,020 meters above Campiglia Cervo in the Biellese Alps, the sanctuary has for centuries attracted faithful pilgrims from across the region. The footage shows Clotilde Zanchi di Zan with her daughter Virgiliana and other local women, many wearing colorful shawls, a white handkerchief on the arm, and carrying baskets, signs of participation in the ritual. The sequence continues with family scenes along wooded paths and on flowered meadows in the upper valley.