On 1 May a statue of Sant'Efisio leaves Cagliari for Nora, sixty-five kilometres away, and returns on the fourth. It goes on foot and by ox-cart, escorted by around five thousand Sardinians in the costume of their own village — and Sardinian regional dress is among the most elaborate in Europe, differing street by street in jewellery and embroidery.
The procession fulfils a vow made in 1657, when the city asked the saint to end a plague. It has been kept every year since, through two world wars, which the city states as a matter of record.
No attendance figure is published.
The first morning in Cagliari is the part most visitors see: the traccas, the decorated ox-carts, and hours of costume passing a fixed point. Positions along via Roma are taken early.
PlanningFixed on 1 May and unbroken since 1657 — the vow requires it to happen whatever else does.