Four Italian religious processions receive UN honour

(ANSA) – Viterbo, December 4 – Religious processions in four Italian communities that each feature volunteers bearing an enormous structure on their shoulders have been added to a United Nations world heritage listing.

Ceremonies in Viterbo, Sassari, Nola and Palmi have all been named by UNESCO as notable for their “Celebrations of big shoulder-borne processional structures”.

The UN agency noted that “Catholic processions featuring large shoulder-borne processional structures take place throughout Italy, but particularly in (these) four historic city centres”.

In Nola, it noted, a procession of eight wood and papier m