Candles in Candelara

What all villages in Marche have in common, and in the meantime makes them so special and different from each other, is the fact that each is characterized by a tradition, a quite original detail of its folklore.

One has got its typical product, another boasts a unique historical relic, the next one’s appeal is a breathtaking landscape. Very often, the village’s peculiarity is tied to its local holiday, a moment when the whole community cooperates to make its speciality shine and “use” it to make as many tourists as possible come, appealed by the event, and then visit the whole village and its surroundings, often falling in love with them.

That’s what happens in the picturesque village of Candelara where, as Christmas time approaches, “Candles in Candelara”, a by now historic celebration, comes to life. Indeed, the protagonists here are the candles and their faint and yet warm light, which can create a unique atmosphere, capable of attracting visitors from all around the region and beyond. This celebration, the only one of its kind in the whole nation, grew, year after year, to the point of being known, by now, as “The Italian celebration of candles”.

Quite a satisfaction to this medieval village in the province of Pesaro Urbino and also, a little bit, to the whole surrounding area, which may boast one more reason to be known, in the wake of the growing power of attraction of “Candles in Candelara” rich program, which shall liven up the village during four week-ends, on November 23 and 24, November 30 and December 1, December 7 and 8 and finally December 15 and 16. This edition shall be enriched with new lights, further to background shows and entertainment including stilts-walkers, musician elves, jugglers, hornpipe players, a chariot with marionettes. Visitors can also assist to the fabrication of candles, all rigorously made with beeswax, as in the middle ages. In the little candles market of Candelara there will be also wrought iron sculptures, silhouettes adorned with hundreds of little candles representing the protagonists of the nativity scene in the roads of the village.