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A romantic custom is repeated in Sant'Ilario, in the hamlets around Marina di Campo and in other places on the Island of Elba… and the young ladies say thank you by baking a cake.
Since I moved to the Island of Elba for reasons “of the heart” – almost twenty years ago now – I began to live it day by day and to get to know its many wonderful sides more closely: the people, the places, the customs, the sayings, the dishes… and I – a city girl through and through – came to love it even more.
One of the customs I find sweetest, and that moves me year after year, is the ritual tied to the Festa del “Maggio” (the May Festival). In the tiny medieval village of Sant'Ilario, as in other places on the Island of Elba, on the night between 30 April and 1 May (for several hours) the men of the village move from window to window and from balcony to balcony to sing a serenade to the “signorine da marito” – the unmarried young ladies – of every age. The song is precisely “il Maggio”, written many years ago by Ugo Soria, a musician and the founder of the Soria family, so numerous between the villages of Sant'Ilario and San Piero, to which my husband belongs.
“Come un fior di primavera… siete amata questa sera.
Signorina… siete desta? V'affacciate alla finestra?
Questo è un cantico d'amore… che risveglia il vostro cuore.”
(“Like a flower of spring… you are loved this evening. / Young lady… are you awake? Will you come to the window? / This is a canticle of love… that awakens your heart.”)
Hearing these words sung and played in the narrow, dark lanes, in the faint glow of the moon… carries you back in time… and you imagine when the young ladies had no Facebook or WhatsApp… when the chances to meet and to write to each other were stolen moments. Truly another age… and one that seems even more incredible when you consider that the men sing under the windows of “signorine” from a few months old right up to ninety-nine!!! Sant'Ilario really is small and we are lucky… in other, more populous places not every unmarried young lady still receives this tribute… But here… it is pure magic.
Of course, it is late at night when they finish, and today perhaps not many girls stay awake… while we can imagine the anxious waiting in the years when this tradition was born. The thrill of spotting your own sweetheart among the singers… and the pleasure – a little while later – of returning that kindness by preparing a special cake: the corollo.
This tradition, in fact, is made up of two distinct moments: the singing and the thanksgiving feast. In the days following the serenade, it is still the custom for the young ladies who were honoured to gather for a village party, for which each of them will bake a cake to serve to the men. In other words… in times gone by it was surely one of the few “official” occasions to get close to the boy of your heart and offer him a slice of your own cake… in front of everyone.
Old times and modern times. Today much has changed… but I love waiting for the choir to pass under my daughter's window, because back in the city it certainly never happens… and I think about the cake we will bake together tomorrow, looking up the recipe on the Internet.
Listen to the song of the Maggio at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b96pc5Bw1TM
Photo by: Mirko Tesei of RISTORANTE PIZZERIA LA FONTE