The Judeata of Radicofani

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Among the most evocative of all, on the Amiata, in the celebrations of Holy Week, is undoubtedly the Judeata of Radicofani, one of the oldest and certainly most beautiful in the whole of Tuscany. The event begins on the evening of Holy Thursday, with the mass that commemorates the Last Supper and the opening of the tomb of Christ. This is followed by a procession of penance, called “dark” precisely because it commemorates the death of the deity, in which the 12 brothers of the congregation of Sant’Agata, in red capes, and the 12 members of the confraternity of Mercy, in white capes, participate. The number 12 naturally evokes that of the apostles.

Brighter and more projected towards the resurrection is the Good Friday procession that starts around 9.30 pm from the church of San Pietro, with the corpse of Christ carried by four barefoot hooded men in black capes, followed by the two congregations in red and white cloaks, by mourning women, by reproductions of the deposition and piety. The culmination of the event is something unique in the world: the arrival of the procession at the church of Sant’Agata where the adoration of Calvary will take place: an apparatus of extraordinary charm is built all around the splendid altar by Andrea Della Robbia: a box wall enriched with 750 allegorical lights.