Curiously, Ivrea celebrates a patron saint, San Savino, bishop and martyr of the third and fourth centuries, who is bound to Umbria and the city of Spoleto. How did such distant places come to be joined? We must go back through the centuries. During the persecutions of Diocletian, San Savino refused to worship the pagan gods and was killed for his faith. His relics reached Ivrea much later, in 950, when Corrado, son of Berengario II, brought them to the city to invoke protection against the plague. According to tradition, from the moment of his arrival, Ivrea was spared from contagion: from that day on, Savino has been the city’s patron saint.
Originally celebrated on 24 January, from 1742 onwards the feast was moved to 7 July to avoid the harshness of the winter climate. Every year the San Savino Festival renews the bond between history, faith and civic identity, with a programme that weaves together religious celebrations and moments of carefree collective life.
In recent years the San Savino Festival has reinvented itself, acquiring an artistic directorship and a communications approach better suited to reaching new generations. The aim is to make the festival an opportunity to engage a broader and more diverse audience. The subtitle “Il Santo, i Cavalli, le Vie” — The Saint, the Horses, the Streets — is itself a product of this ambition, and summarises the three pillars of the event: the solemn ceremonies in honour of the patron saint; the historic horse fair, which has grown in importance over time; and a calendar of cultural and artistic initiatives spread across the historic centre and the neighbourhoods of Ivrea.
For a few days, then, the city becomes a great open-air stage, where spirituality, tradition and spectacle come together with remarkable ease.
All official information, parade times and programme details are available on the event website.
