As always the Decennial Festival of St. Titus is a welcome opportunity for the people of Casorate Sempione to come together to enjoy a little friendly competition and join forces to build something wonderful.

Casorate is getting ready for the upcoming Decennial Festival of St. Titus, a special event that is celebrated every ten years. The tenth edition of the festival, which was first held in 1926, will be held in September 2016 – 340 years after the relics of the martyr St. Titus arrived in Casorate.

Committees have formed in every neighbourhood in the town with each group working in great secrecy and drawing on historical sources, catalogues, books and personal creativity to organise projects to renew their streets by building aediculae and other architectural elements together with floral decorations that are lit up at night by spectacular illuminations.

With millions of flowers to make, preparations for the festival begin in Casorate Sempione at least two years in advance. The flowers were originally made of crêpe paper, but in recent years residents have been experimenting with a vast range of materials to help the flowers stand up to the rain, such as waxed paper, packing tape and ribbons, re-dyed nylon tights attached to wires, the bottoms of plastic bottles, etc. They also build all the structures to support the flower displays as well as the many improvised altars in the streets, floral arches, votive aediculae and large murals, plus thousands of coloured lights have to be sourced.

All this provides a fairytale setting for the myriad religious, cultural, sporting, gastronomic and musical events and entertainment planned between 3rd and 13th September 2016.

The religious aspect mainly involves processions that wend their way through the streets of the town as the glass urn containing the remains of the town’s patron saint is displayed to be venerated by the faithful. The urn is either carried on a cart pulled by cavalrymen in Roman attire or on the shoulders of Spanish soldiers – this historical mixture celebrates the martyrdom of Titus (ad 426) and the arrival of the saint’s remain in Casorate (1676).

Entertainment is guaranteed for all ages with shows in the town square, musical evenings featuring every possible genre (bands, modern, classical, and music accompanied by singing and dancing), cabaret acts with famous performers, musicals, and more!

Numerous sporting events are also planned, and with so many important stables in and around Casorate the racing is certain to be a real crowd puller.