BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//https://ischiaeventi.com///NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.10.15// METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20260404T061417UTC-1452O1VgiG@https://ischiaeventi.com/ DTSTAMP:20260404T061417Z DESCRIPTION:The Feast of St. Vito\, the patron saint of Forio as a beautifu l pearl in a month\, June\, speaking of sun\, heat and intense colors give n to us by nature.The popular legend joins the devotion to the patron with the cultivation of the vine and argues that \;toward the half of the nineteenth century\, while raged the blight on the island and Forians suff ered the shortage of harvest\, a Sicilian ship\, laden with sulfur landed in Forio. The Sicilians claimed to have been sent in Forio\, by a child wh o had pledged a ring and that the popular imagination identified with St. Vito.The fact is that the veneration of the young Vito in Forio has ancien t roots\, which date back to the Middle Ages and even then most likely the re was a temple dedicated to him in the town of Citara\, destroyed between 897 and 902 from the incursions of the Saracens who plundered everything\ ; so it was that for the first time the church dedicated to St. Vito was b uilt where today stands the majestic Basilica\, between 827 and the 902.In fact in Forio was very strong also the cult of Saint Catherine from Alexa ndria\, who also find represented only 4 times in the Basilica of St. Vito \, but the title of Patron Saint of Forio has always been up to the young martyr\; already in a document of 700 where the Congregation of Rites draw s the Mass to the Saint\, speaks of him as the patron of Forio.Returning t o the present Basilica of St. Vito in Forio\, it is already defined in the oldest written document Parish Church of Ischia\, dating back to June 12\ , 1306\, and preserved in the Vatican: it is established that\, having bee n built according to the Church\, the Holy See upheld the right of electio n by the people of the parish priest of Forio\; that right arose because t he parish of St. Vito initially depended on the islano Cathedral Chapter a nd no priest would come regularly from Ischia to Forio\, so Forians claime d the right (still current but in the form of the presentation of a list o f three names to the Bishop ) to elect a parish priest of the place that c ould assist them permanently.The Parish Church of St. Vito then was elevat ed to the rank of Basilica on July 18\, 1988 by the Bishop of that time An tonio Pagano.Before getting back into the relationship between San Vito an d Forio\, it is necessary to add that the devotion to this saint has sprea d a bit all over Europe and in Italy some 15 towns bear his name and 74 ar e honored to have him as a patron\; on our Island in the town of Ischia wa s also the title of this parish of St. Vito\, first in 1300 in a church lo cated in Via Vecchia Campagnao which was subsequently destroyed\, then in the present Church of the Holy Spirit in Ischia Ponte.Returning to Forio w e can see that already in 1600\, was carried in procession the wood statue of St. Vito\, now on the left side of the main altar in the basilica\, th e Forians however\, once completed the construction of the Basilica wanted to make greater honor to the Saint commissioning the realization of a sil ver statue dated 1787 \; the historic D’Ascia gives us many and detailed n ews on the statue: “The design was by the famous sculptor Giuseppe Sammart ino who composed the model. The goldsmiths who performed the work were bro thers Giuseppe and \; Gennaro. This statue arrived in Forio on March 2 1\, 1787. The work was modeled and executed in a year\, because the contra ct between the goldsmiths and artisans and the Mayor of Forio was signed o n April 18\, 1786 by Mr. Carlo Pollicino from Naples. The intrinsic cost o f that statue was of 2848:74 ducats. “The work appears to be far from the ways of Sammartino\, therefore\, is to assume that it was modeled on an ex isting simulacrum of the end of 16th century”.This statue\, tells Msgr. Re gine\, is located in the sacristy\, in a niche closed by a wooden door wit h two doors\, and is only open during the festival in June and January 6 a t the end of the Holy Forty hours\, because at that time was not posed any glass and such placement allows a better preservation of silver\, also in the Basilica of St. Vito’s image is present not only in the wooden statue \, also in the beautiful altar cloth (the largest island in size) dated 17 42 and built by Alfonso Di Spigna\, which depicts the patron saint with St . Catherine of Alexandria at the foot of the Holy Trinity.The Feast of the Saint until 1960s was held in the month of August\, when the peasants wer e free from toil in the fields\, was the then parish priest\, Fr Vincenzo Avallone\, to bring it back to its day of the liturgical Solemnity of the Saint\, on June 15. Also this year will revolve around this date the princ ipal moments of the festival\, with the procession by land and one by sea on Sunday 15 and Monday 16\, in a succession of faith\, tradition\, music and colors\, to remember the heavenly birthday of martyr Vito and once aga in to ask his protection and his blessing on all Forio. https://ischiaeven ti.com/en/event-venues/event/30765-feast-of-san-vito DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260615 LOCATION:Chiesa di San Vito (Via S. Vito\, 58\, 80075 Forio NA\, Italy) SUMMARY:Feast of San Vito URL:https://ischiaeventi.com/en/event-venues/event/30765-feast-of-san-vito END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR