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Processione dei Cocchieri - Chiesa Madonna dell'Itria . Via Alloro - Palermo
Venerdì Santo - 22 aprile 2011
La congregazione dei Cocchieri, risalente al 1594, muove dalla chiesa della Madonna dell’Itria sita in via Alloro, cioè da quella strada della Palermo nobile alle cui dipendenze erano i cocchieri.
Trasportano i loro simulacri continuando la vecchia tradizione di indossare ancora il frac e le livree settecentesche con i colori d’appartenenza secondo il casato.
In the 12th century, a pilgrim from the Byzantine empire came to Bologna with an icon of the Virgin from the temple of Saint Sofia in Constantinople. In 1160, the bishop of Bologna assigned the icon to a small hermitage chapel on top of a hill that was tended by two holy women.
Construction of a church began in 1193. In 1294, some monks of the Dominican order from the monastery of Ronzano came to the site, and the order remained here until the Napoleonic suppression of 1799.
The present church was constructed in 1723 using the designs of Carlo Francesco Dotti.
A monumental roofed arcade (Portico di San Luca) consisting of 666 arches, which was built 1674-1793. It was meant to protect the icon as it was paraded up the hill. A yearly procession from the Cathedral of San Pietro in the centre of Bologna to the Sanctuary goes along this path.