Two men wearing medieval costume, one in a black velvet tunic, chat outside a bank in Viale Regina Margherita at Anagni, Lazio, Italy, while waiting with a horse in a red, purple and gold caparison and bright red bridle and reins to join a procession and pageant honouring Anagni’s patron saint, 3rd century AD Christian bishop and martyr Saint Magnus or Magno of Anagni. The ancient hill town southeast of Rome was the summer residence of Roman emperors and medieval popes, and 13th and 14th century pontiffs Gregory IX and Boniface VIII were born there.
Anagni, Lazio, Italy: head-to-head … two men in medieval costume, one wearing a black velvet tunic and pointed leather shoes, chat outside a bank in Viale Regina Margherita while waiting with a horse resplendent in a red, purple and gold caparison, red bridle and reins, and with an ornate stirrup showing through a side-slit in the cloth, to begin a procession through the streets of the old town in honour of the Anagni’s patron saint. The colourful annual medieval pageant and procession celebrates the 3rd century AD Christian bishop and martyr Saint Magnus or Magno of Anagni and aims to recreate medieval daily life. Magnus, Bishop of Trani, worked to spread Christianity in Anagni and its neighbouring towns. He is said to have fled from persecution but was executed after he hid in a cave and was found by Roman soldiers. He became Anagni’s patron saint after 1901, when his skeletal remains were buried in the crypt of the town’s cathedral, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata. Anagni, about 71 km (44 miles) southeast of Rome, is an ancient hill town in the historic region of Latium. It enjoyed an illustrious past as a summer residence of Roman emperors and medieval popes. Its Palace of the Popes hosted the papal court between the 11th and 14th centuries and the town was the birthplace of at least two 13th and 14th century pontiffs, Gregory IX and Boniface VIII.
Size: 2719px × 2719px
Location: Anagni, Lazio, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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