CASAZZE. - Grandiose figured processions, living relics of the sacred drama.
Their origin is Genoese, and the name derives, it seems, from certain old and large buildings where the Companies of the disciplinati and flagellants, established in Genoa around 1260, had their first seat. As is well known, sacred representations were among the principal tasks of such companies. In time, the actual dramatic actions were replaced by processions with figures evoking scenes of the passion and death of Christ or even biblical episodes. In the 16th-18th centuries such figured processions acquired an exceptional splendor, which manifested itself especially in the rites of Holy Thursday, to the point of giving rise to heated rivalries among the different sestieri of the city. The custom lasted in Genoa until the first decades of the 19th century, but it has survived in some towns of Liguria and in particular at Savona. It had already spread from the 16th century onward in Sicily, through the close commercial relations between Genoa and Palermo, and on that island the c. have been preserved here and there down to the present day with the traditional splendor of costumes and adornments. They count, and even more so counted in the past, an extraordinary number of figures. For example, at Nicosia, in the c. of 1851, 1200 figures paraded, divided into 20 groups representing episodes of the Old and New Testament. In these manifestations of a lavish and overloaded taste, Spanish influences have been discerned.
Bibliography
Paolo Toschi