«That hand from up there during the Faradda» . It is the help of the Virgin of the Assumption that, according to the Carpenters' Guild, prevented worse consequences last Wednesday when the chandelier broke at the base near the church of Santa Maria shortly after passing under the electric wires.

"Fortunately - says Francesco Carta, secretary of the corporation - the candle was almost horizontal, with the crowd far away, and no one got a scratch. So we were able to dissolve the Vote". What remains, with hindsight, is the fear for the unfortunate outcome that was avoided and the pain for an episode that has no similar examples in the news of recent decades.

"The only explanation is that sooner or later everything breaks and this candlestick was 103 years old ." The solidarity of those present for the gremianti was great and immediate. "Everyone supported us," recalls Antonello Poddighe, head candlestick bearer , "from colleagues to guardian father Salvatore Sanna to mayor Giuseppe Mascia and archbishop Gian Franco Saba."

The crowd also accompanied the passage of the candle carried horizontally with applause. " If there was a need to give a signal to the city - continues Poddighe - to stay united, it was given at the most opportune moment ." From September the Gremio will think about how to intervene for the damage suffered by the candlestick. The choices available are to repair it or build a new one . Both options, especially the second, are very expensive.

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