CASAZZE. - Grandiose figured processions, living relics of sacred drama.
Their origin is Genoese, and the name appears to derive from certain old and large buildings in which the Companies of the disciplined and flagellants, established in Genova around 1260, had their first headquarters. As is well known, sacred representations were among the principal functions of such companies. In time, actual dramatic performances were replaced by processions with figures evoking scenes from the passion and death of Christ, or also biblical episodes. During the 16th-18th centuries these figured processions acquired exceptional splendour, manifested especially in the rites of Holy Thursday, giving rise to heated rivalries among the various districts of the city. The custom lasted in Genova until the first decades of the nineteenth century, but has survived in certain towns of Liguria and particularly in Savona. As early as the sixteenth century it had spread to Sicilia, owing to the close commercial relations between Genova and Palermo, and on this island the casazze have been preserved here and there down to the present day, with the traditional splendour of costumes and ornaments. They include, and included even more in the past, an extraordinary number of figures. For example, at Nicosia, in the casazza of 1851, 1,200 figures marched in 20 groups representing episodes from the Old and New Testaments. Spanish influences have been discerned in these manifestations of a sumptuous and overloaded taste.