Rick Steves’ Europe: Remembering Easter in Italy

It’s impressive to me that, even in the 21st century, sacred traditions—rich with symbolism—still thrive in Europe’s more remote corners.

The dramatic finale of Cantiano's Passion Play leaves the center cross atop the town empty, save for a floodlit shroud blowing in the wind. Rick Steves, Rick Steves' Europe

Years ago, while exploring European Easter rituals for one of my public television specials, I headed to the rugged, mountainous Marche region in central Italy—where the small towns of Gubbio and Cantiano are renowned for their Good Friday processions.

In Gubbio, we joined the townspeople for a centuries-old annual procession featuring marching groups dressed in costumes shockingly reminiscent of an American KKK rally. But here, folks wear cone-shaped white hoods not to be racist, but to promote equality; they help make it clear that everyone—old and young, rich and poor (and black and white)—is the same in the eyes of God.