VIATORES - Musical and interdisciplinary paths through the Isonzo bioregion / Sveta Gora

VIATORES is a six-stage journey through the areas marked by the Soča river. Each stage offers a nature or historical excursion accompanied by a guide and a concert with ancient instruments in one of the many ancient churches in the Isonzo area.

5 p.m. monastery hill: bilingual guided tour 

Meeting point: entrance to the Sanctuary

Historian Davide Gandini (a member of the Confraternity of St. James of Compostella, headquarters of Liguria) and nature guide Ana Cernic will accompany participants along a short route that leads from the Sanctuary to the statue of St. Francis, recounting the birth and development of the great phenomenon of medieval pilgrimage that marked the whole of Europe and is still intensively practised, as well as illustrating the characteristics of the landscape surrounding the Sanctuary. Monte Santo (Skalnica or Sveta gora) with its sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady stands on the orographic left of the Soča river in front of the Gorizia plain. At 681 metres, it is the highest hill surrounding the city. The proposed route is flat and accessible to all. The trail runs through thermophilic scrub characterised by black hornbeam, ash and downy oak, with the presence of a few Mediterranean essences. The soil is calcareous and therefore similar to karstic soil. Along the path, numerous steles remind us of the bloody past, as the mountain was the scene of bloody battles during the First World War. The walk takes us as far as the statue of St Francis, from where the view sweeps over the plain and the surrounding hills - the Banjšice plateau, the Škabrijel, the Sveti Danijel, the Markov hrib, the Fajtov hrib, the San Michele (Vrh) - and down to the Adriatic Sea. 

6.30 p.m. Sanctuary

Prolusion by Fabio Accurso: Music for pilgrims, music of pilgrims. Cultured and popular between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

To follow: Concert by the Dramsam Ensemble and the Komel Vocal Group - Ars Atelier

The Vermilion Book of Montserat

A few dozen kilometres from Barcelona, on the Montserrat mountain range, there is still the monastery of Montserat, a Marian sanctuary and pilgrimage destination since the 9th century. The Libro Vermiglio (Vermilion Book) of Montserat is an important manuscript compiled between the 14th and 15th centuries in the monastery itself, which contains a small collection of learned and popular songs, almost a musical snapshot of what popular devotion was like in the Middle Ages and how it was expressed. The songs include refined and meditative polyphonies, but at the same time sung dances of a decidedly joyful and lively character. The performance with voices and ancient instruments is intended to restore this atmosphere of joy and at the same time meditation that marks this extraordinary and unique collection of pilgrims' songs, and is the result of the Ensemble Dramsam's collaboration with the Komel Vocal Group - Ars Atelier.

Ensemble Dramsam

Alessandra Cossi: Voice, synphony, percussion

Elisabetta de Mircovich: Voice, vielle

Marco Ferrari: Flutes, bagpipes

Claudio Zinutti: Voice, portative organ

Fabio Accurso: Lutes, direction

Komel Vocal Group - Ars Atelier

Mateja Černic Conductor

Discover all the events of the review: www.dramsam.org/viatores