His life - His charisma - His legacy - The tradition
St. Martin’s Fair in Alzano - Iconography

St. Martin’s Fair in Alzano Lombardo

The feast of St. Martin in Alzano is a tradition that dates back to the middle of the XV century, when Alzano with his parish detaches from Nembro that was the mother-diocese, and becomes a parish “sue juris” i.e. autonomous.

The present Basilica derived from a series of reworks over the original 1421 – 1442 church, which was dedicated to St. Martin. At that time Alzano Maggiore was transforming into a town whose economy was no longer based on agriculture like the neighboring villages, but rather on commerce and crafts. Alzano will later become the most important town of the Lower Seriana Valley.

The patron Saint’s feast took on a remarkable relevance during those times – becoming the most popular of the region. A massive crowd would travel to the fair from the neighboring towns and from further out, some coming from as far as Poscante, Zogno, the lower plains; people on foot, by cart, by horse… Year after year the fair became ever more important, lasting up to three or four days depending on the calendar (if November 11^th fell on a Wednesday the feast would already begin on the Sunday before; if on a Thursday, the celebrations would instead be protracted till the following Sunday). All merchants would compete to exhibit their goods, and make-shift stands would come over from the whole province. The merchandise available for sale was most diversified: from cereals, to chestnuts, to agricultural tools such as hoes, shovels, forks, scythes, ploughshares for plows, whetstones; then other wooden items such as rakes, clogs, panniers, and chairs used for milking. There also were stands selling more frivolous items such as sweet nougat, roasted chestnuts, and medlars. However the fair was not only an annual appointment during which merchandise was exchanged, but much more. Liturgical celebrations were most important such as the sung Mass in the morning (the so-called Messa Alta [High Mass]) and the afternoon Vespers; the relics of the Saints were exposed in the Church, amongst which most prominent were the ones of the Saint Patron. At the time there were a number of priests in Alzano, also since Alzano Maggiore had become the see of a Vicariate; thus, entering church in the morning, one could participate to the simultaneous celebration of a number of Masses at the various lateral altars, which were dedicated to different Saints and assigned to different Religious Brotherhoods (of the Disciplini Bianchi [White Disciplined Brothers], of the SS. Sacramento [Most Holy Sacrament], of the Buona Morte [Good Death, a funeral rituals association], of the Commercianti [the Merchants], of the Santo Rosario [Holy Rosary], etc. ).

The maximum expansion of the fair will be reached in the first half of the 1800s when there were in Alzano so many textile mills that produced raw silk – about fifty of them, from the family-owned ones to those employing up to 300 or 400 people; not to mention paper factories, and grain mills. Then on St. Martin’s day all the land rental contracts would terminate, and new ones would be stipulated. The land lots would be sold and purchased - this was the best time to execute these transactions, since the harvest had been completed - along with any farm management changes mandated by the landlords, and with the payment of the home rental fees (hence derived the way of saying “fare San Martino” [“to do a St. Martin”] referred to somebody having to move). This calendar date was more important than December 31^st, since in practice the working year ended on November 11^th. The religious feast became even more relevant at the end of the XIX century – suffices to mention the great Pontificali [Pontificals, solemn rituals with homily] that were celebrated in the presence of the most eminent clergy.

During High Mass the singers of the Schola Cantorum [the Choir School] of Alzano would showcase their talent: there were about seventy people, joined for the occasion by singing ensembles coming from Bergamo, all directed by the famous maestro Nini da Fano (Maestro of the Chapel of S. Maria Maggiore [the Basilica of the Bishop of Bergamo]); together with the orchestra of woodwinds and strings comprised of about thirty musicians, they enlivened the liturgical celebrations of the holy day, along with the sound of the stupendous Serassi organ. The Church was largely overcrowded, and its doors would be left open in order to allow all the people packed standing over the parvis to hear the music. When people from out of town planned to come to the feast, they did not say they were “going to go to Alzano”: they would say they would “go to St. Martin”. A lot of foreigners that extended their stay for two days or more would find a room at the “trattoria Tartari”, located at the corner of the present Via Mazzini and Via Locatelli. There also were inns that cooked the daily special, the tripe (known as “busecca” in dialect), often accompanied by a flask of good wine. The most renowned restaurants at that time were: “Ol Ciapì”, the “Bella Venezia” (also the most frequented), the inn of “San Pietro”, and last but not least “Il Catenone”. Nowadays much like back then, on November 11^th the whole town of Alzano grinds to a halt, to continue the tradition of the celebration for the feast of St. Martin.