{:en}PRESS RELEASE (12/08/2017)
Witch hunt, a Loano, on the night that recalls the persecutions that for several centuries swept through Europe and affected women suspected of performing acts of magic such as spells, curses, hexes, and ligatures.
Sunday, August 13, the appointment with the Basüe Festival, promoted by the’Department of Tourism and Culture of the City of Loano and organized by the’Multipurpose Cultural Center Association Loano In cooperation with ASCOM Loano.
Over four hundred figures will bring to life a night full of magic and mysteries. The protagonists will be tourists and residents of all ages, who will have the opportunity to wear costumes and hairstyles to transform themselves into witches, wizards and devils and parade in the procession.
The party will kick off at 9 p.m., in Italy Square. Skilled jugglers will compete in fire games recreating the atmosphere of that time accompanied by medieval sounds played live by the Rabbit Company. Music will also guide the “witches” sabbath," performed with original choreography by the dancers of the Lorella Brondo's Attimo Danza Civic School.
The rolling of drums will announce the trial and condemnation for witchcraft. The witch, chained and placed in the cage, will be led to the stake by the austere Torquemada with a retinue of armigers, inquisitors, nobles and commoners. The procession, which will pass through the streets of the center, will be enriched by the presence of an imaginative carousel of characters on stilts and groups of witches who will dance to a fast-paced rhythm.
Opening the parade will be the Sun and Moon with sparkling gowns and the Great Wind Witch. Behind them Good and Evil, priestesses, satellites and stars. Then it will be the turn of drummers, clarions and flag-wavers of the City of Ventimiglia, followed by the Savona Historical Group And by magical woodland creatures.
The outfits, which each year come from the imagination of Giovina Mannelli, the creator of the festival, possess a unique sartorial quality due to the characteristic handwork, the refinement of finishes made by some of the volunteers. Behind each dress is research on materials to make them original and precious.
Giovina Mannelli will lead the direction of the event, which has reached this year's twenty-third edition.
“The first Party of the Basüe - explains Giovina Mannelli - was held to coincide with Women's Day. Given its success, we decided to move it to the summer, and year by year the initiative has grown to over four hundred sign-ups in recent years. From 1991 to the present, this event was interrupted for only a few editions, but there were many requests, so we decided to resume the event. Among the many people who have contributed to the success of the initiative I want to mention the following Loredana Icardo and this year Flavia Bronda e Charles Pavia. The festival refers to some historical accounts of sabbaths that took place in the Loano area, as evidenced also by the Basura Cave in Toirano.”.
The procession will travel through the old town, the waterfront, and reach the beach under the Francheville Pier where the witch will be burned. Simultaneously in the sky will rise the lights and crackling of the fireworks display. Original creations with fountain, sphere and rain-effect shapes will intersect in the sky forming a magical play of colorful lights, a bursting scene that will create an enveloping atmosphere. Light, shape, color and rhythm will compose an original and unique show.
Before and after the parade on the waterfront, there will be a music station in Maccagli Garden where you can dance with the DJ-Set. “Devilish tastings” can be enjoyed throughout the center, and a “children's make-up” station will be set up in Orto Maccagli to thematically paint the faces of the little ones.{:}
