There are moments of Bruna Festival that belong to everyone. The passage of the Triumphal Chariot, the wait, the Strazzo, the square filling up and then emptying. These are images that every Matera resident knows and that, every year, return to tell the story of one of the city's most defining rites.
Then there is another story.
It begins when the Chariot is no longer there.
When the fragments leave the square, they enter homes and become memories. When those who participated in the Strazzo continue to preserve, tell, and pass on a piece of that day.
This is where it comes from Finding Bruna. Again – Stories by Strazzo, the cultural project conceived and produced by Matera Preview, presented on June 29th in the Caveau of the boutique on Via del Corso through a documentary and an exhibition that invite us to observe the Festa della Bruna from a different perspective.
More than telling the rite, the project tells what the rite leaves in people.
The inauguration of a project, not just an exhibition
The inauguration on June 29th brought together the authors of the project, the protagonists of the documentary, the strazzatori, the master papier-mâché maker Francesca Cascione, representatives of the Executive Committee of the Maria Santissima della Bruna Association, the Angels of the Cart and numerous citizens.
More than presenting an exhibition, the meeting opened a dialogue on the meaning of memory at the Festa della Bruna and the value of personal stories that continue to live on after the Strazzo.
The project was also followed by the local press, which reported on its presentation and opening to the public.
👉 Further information:
- Photo reportage of the inauguration on SassiLive Sassi Live Preview Caveau –
- TV report on TRM: Finding Bruna. Again: the exhibition dedicated to the Festa della Bruna and the memory of the Triumphal Chariot
A project born from the desire to understand the city
Matera is not a city that can be described on the surface.
To understand it, you have to delve into its rites, listen to the people who live them, and accept that some traditions cannot be explained through news alone.
During a live broadcast on July 2nd from the Anteprima terrace, Mavi explained that the Festa della Bruna isn't simply a religious celebration, but part of the city's DNA. For those who choose to live and work in Matera, it means taking on the responsibility of truly getting to know it, preventing a space from becoming an anonymous container.
From this belief arises Finding Bruna. Again.
Not as a celebratory operation.
But as a cultural project through which Anteprima Matera chooses to interpret the city, creating opportunities for encounters between memory, creativity, and contemporaneity.
The documentary as the heart of the project
The heart of Finding Bruna. Again – Stories by Strazzo it is the documentary directed by Francesco Giase, which intertwines new testimonies with archive images from the TRM archive.
Through the words of Francesca Cascione, Matteo Marchitelli, Mariano Iacovone and of the bulldozers Mattia Berardi, Andrea Celli, Francesco Perrone and Zacaria Qouchairi, the documentary gives a choral vision of the Festa della Bruna.
Who builds the Chariot.
Who protects him.
Whoever lives it.
Who guards the fragments.
Together they tell not only a story of tradition, but the human heritage that keeps it alive.
🎥 Watch the documentary:
People before the fragments
The idea of Finding Bruna. Again was born within the Anteprima Matera events team.
It played a decisive role Zacaria Qouchairi, team member and slasher, whose direct connection with this world has allowed us to build a network of authentic testimonies.
The choice of works also follows this logic.
It was not the most spectacular fragments that were selected, but those that tell a story.
The Christ, kept by Francesco Perrone.
Sermon on the Mount, preserved by Andrea Celli.
Triumphal Angel, kept by Mattia Berardi.
La Our Lady of Bruna, displayed in the window, symbolically introduces the visitor to the path that leads to the Caveau.
Each fragment tells a story.
Each person tells a different way of experiencing it.
The Vault as a place of cultural production
The documentary finds its natural extension in the Caveau.
The works dialogue with the images, the testimonies with the objects, the individual memories with a memory that returns to being shared.
In this way the Caveau takes on a function that goes beyond that of exhibition.
It becomes a space where Anteprima Matera produces culture, designing and curating projects that connect people, traditions, and contemporary languages.
Each initiative adds a new chapter to this journey, helping to make the Caveau a recognizable place in the city's cultural life.
Why “Again”
The title deliberately recalls Finding Bruna, the fashion film made by Anteprima in 2025 on the occasion of the opening of the Matera boutique.
That short film used the language of fashion and cinema to play with the double meaning of the name Bruna, weaving together suggestions drawn from the city's legends in a narrative suspended between reality and imagination.
Finding Bruna. Again It does not represent a continuation of that story.
He collects the method.
The language and the protagonists change, but the desire to observe Matera from ever-different perspectives remains.
🎬 Look Finding Bruna:
A story that continues
The Festa della Bruna lives in the present.
Memory continues to build itself over time.
With Finding Bruna. Again – Stories by StrazzoAnteprima Matera chooses to focus on that very memory, transforming a documentary, an exhibition, and the Caveau into an opportunity to listen to stories that would otherwise be difficult to find space for elsewhere.
It's a way of interpreting the city that doesn't come through celebration, but through listening.
Because some traditions survive thanks to rites.
Others continue to live because someone chooses to tell them from a new point of view.
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