San Matteo between faith, identity and tradition: a true celebration for those who return

Ore 9, Vittorio Veneto Squarerailway station: how you cross the threshold of the station that opens the doors onto Salernothere is something different in the air. It’s Saturday and usually, at this time of the morning, the city still has trouble waking up. The September 21st no. There is an electric, pleasant, even proud atmosphere: it infects everyone a little. Just look at the various platforms of the railway yard: dozens and dozens of people get off the regional trains arriving from the province, the high-speed trains are more crowded than usual.

The “magnet”

From one of these carriages he gets off Piermatteo: nome omen, the Latins would say, despite that addition that is so Milanese. He lives in Firenze and knows every detail of the trains: he goes up and down the carriages every day, he works for a company that provides bar service on long-distance trains. He tells with a smile that should be a Reggio Emilia. Other than Salerno… «But I didn’t get the ticket for the match in time“, he says, invoking a pinch of bad luck. Then he utters a sentence that can be taken as an example to help people understand – at least in part – what September 21st means for the people of Salerno: “Every year, every San Matteo, I say I won’t return. But every year, in the end, I’m always here: the call is too strong“. The patronal feast of Salerno, even in a world that is losing the essence of things that in 2024 have an ancient flavour, is like this: an embrace of faith that mixes with the tradition and most authentic identity of this city. A magnet for those who cannot turn their gaze to the gulf every day: San Matteo remains the only entity – together with the Salerno – where people grew up in the shadow of the Arechi Castlefrom every social class, can truly recognize himself, at any moment.

The “miracle”

And so San Matteo 2024 more than the others (especially thanks to the favorable calendar) becomes above all the celebration of the “emigrants”, of the people of Salerno forced to stay away from their city, capable even from a distance of filling their hearts with joy every September 21st, constantly feeling nostalgia for all the events – sacred and profane – that can only be experienced on this day. They return in massive numbers and for them San Matteo performs the usual, great miracle: finding their authentic roots, friends and family. That damned city incapable of offering them what they desire but from which, despite everything, they cannot stay away. The two faces of Salerno, just like those of its Patron Saint.

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