A vital tradition in Manchester's Little Italy calendar has finally returned to the city centre, three years after the last procession.
The Madonna del Rosario procession has been held every year since 1890, being halted just three times in the festivity's 132-year history, during the coronavirus pandemic, in the First World War, and from 1940 to 1945, when many respected members of the local Italian community were interned after Mussolini sided with Hitler's Germany.
However, the community refused to let the pandemic kill off the tradition for good, and Manchester's Italian community hit the streets of the city centre on Sunday afternoon, July 3, to bring the traditional march back to the streets and celebrate their culture and heritage in style.
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The procession started off from St Michael's Roman Catholic Church on George Leigh Street, Ancoats, at 1.30pm, heading down towards St Peter's Square, spending some time in the area, before heading back towards St Michael's to finish shortly after 4.15pm.
A religious statue of the Madonna traditionally leads the group, as the walk is in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary, with men from the Italian community carrying the statue adorned with white lilies.
Pictures from this year's event showed many men dressed in sashes showing the colours of the Italian flag, with red, white, and green stripes across their torsos in a nod to their original heritage.
The colourful celebration always sees women from the community don traditional Italian dresses, embracing the colour and spirit of the festivities, which were started by the Manchester Italian Catholic Society.
Children who have recently taken their first Holy Communion are also encouraged to take part in the parade, dressed in their best finery, with girls wearing long white dresses whilst boys put on shirts and ties with their best trousers for the occasion.
A number of representatives from nearly churches also took part in this year's parade, including Right Reverend Bishop John Arnold from the Diocese of Salford.
The Lord Mayor of Manchester, representatives of the Italian Consulate, and the Ceremonial Mayor of Salford also took part in the march, which halted traffic in the city centre this afternoon.
A number of bands were also part of the procession, including pipe bands from Oldham and Accrington, St Johns Brass Band, and the Bury Fire Choir.
The event is thought to be one of the oldest surviving processions in the country, and celebrates the history of Italian migrants moving to the UK to find jobs in Manchester's booming cotton mills and industrial workplaces, with many settling in what is now known as Ancoats' Little Italy.
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