History of Perdon d’Assisi and Its Impact on Caprino’s Montebaldina Fair
The total remission of sins or plenary indulgence, obtainable for oneself or for the deceased through the recitation of a series of prayers and passages inside a Franciscan church. This is the meaning of the practice of the «Perdon d’Assisi» which, introduced in Caprino in 1936 by the Capuchin friars settled there, indirectly initiated the Montebaldina Fair.
Origin and Spread of the Privilege of the Perdon d’Assisi
«In fact, this privilege was established on August 2, 1216, by Saint Francis himself in the church of the Porziuncola, near Assisi», explains the parish priest of Caprino, Don Pietro Marrobbio. «It is from that location that the name derived, and it spread throughout Italy, alongside the expansion and growth of the friars’ convents».
History of the Church of Caprino and Its Origins
«The parish church of Caprino, dedicated to Santa Maria Maggiore, was built in 1769. Prior to that, on the same site, there was another structure dating back to 1145, also dedicated to the Madonna, mentioned as a pieve in a bull by Pope Eugenio II. It is here that the first practices of the «Perdon d’Assisi» took place.
The pieve first and the parish church later became pilgrimage destinations. People came from all the surrounding villages, from the Val d’Adige, and even from Lower Verona. To meet the needs of the pilgrims, the first stalls appeared, and from this the Montebaldina Fair was subsequently born. The first official fair, dedicated to agriculture, dates back to 1753.
