Good Friday in Campobasso

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Seven hundred singers intone the heartbreaking Teco Vorrei

The atmosphere charged with anticipation, sadness, the temperature still low despite the spring and the darkness coming on. So begins the afternoon of Good Friday in Campobasso when the entire population prepares for the procession by heading to the church of Santa Maria della Croce, one of the city’s most beautiful, ancient and important churches.

This ancient tradition was established as early as 1626 in the peace pact between the Crusaders and the Trinitarians, the two most powerful brotherhoods of the time.

Like most Good Friday processions, the statues of the Dead Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows are followed. The one in Campobasso, however, has a special feature.
The choir, which intones the heartbreaking Teco Vorrei o Signore, consists of as many as seven hundred singers, divided between men and women and from the lowest to the highest pitch.

Such a massive number of people, coupled with the notes of the hymn composed in the early 1900s by Campobasso maestro Michele De Nigris on the verses of Pietro Metastasio, make hearts and windows tremble, managing to be heard from dozens of meters away with the music wafting through the alleys of the historic center.

Leaving the old town, then, the procession heads to the points in the city where suffering is greatest. Main stop is in front of the prison where the bishop gives a speech each year.

From here the procession begins its return to the church with the sky getting darker and the temperature lower and lower, usually accompanied by wind or bad weather to emphasize the suffering and sadness of the day.

A tradition deeply felt by Campobassans but not only, with the choir attracting people from all over the region.