The Vatican has officially promised a parish priest. The pilgrimage had a bad start when the three buses, that had left Ari at 5, were stopped by Rome police who forbade the pilgrims to take off their shoes and put a barbed wire crown on their heads, and offered them instead a meeting with Vatican authorities. Exactly what they had hoped for. For seven years now Ari has been waiting for a parish priest, but this is a scanty "merchandise" now: too few Italians choose the hardships of a religious life.

Massimo Saccoccia, second last year, is the winner of the 1999 edition; prize: a suit and some money. This ancient and difficult run is a passage rite to adulthood, where young men (and women) show their endurance to pain. Zingaro originally meant barefoot: the race begins from the top of Colle Ardinghi, in front of the town but on the other bank of the Vella river; the runners race down the mountain barefoot then cross the stream and climb through the medieval alleys, until they finally lie down before the altar to the Virgin.

With European funds the University of L'Aquila has developed the prototype of the first clean bus with the same speed and power as present vehicles: a traditional thermal engine fuelled by methane and a generator which is always recharged when not operating, and an electronic "intelligent" control which will shift engines as necessary, thanks to pre-stored routes and emission level controls. The inauguration in 2001 on the L'Aquila-Roio line.

As every year, the ancient story is re-enacted by characters in costume. 400 years ago, says the tradition, the Virgin mary saved the town from the saracens, appearing to them and asking in the name of Abraham to withdraw. However they continued, but when the Moorish commander Alì Pascia, reached piazza della Porta saw the population in prayer before a statue of the virgin Mary, and he recognized the woman whom he had met before. Impressed, he decided to withdraw and Spoltore was saved.

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