The daily life of the inhabitants of San Giovanni Rotondo has taken place within the Historic Center for centuries.
In his churches the people gathered to pray on festive occasions or in difficult moments. The candles burned on the altars decorated for the evening of the Sepulchres of Holy Thursday. On this night, even brigands and outlaws forced into a life of fugitive could return to the town.
On the cold days of carnival we witnessed the merry-go-rounds of the masks, of the Schiavoni, from the Carlucce; the streets were festively decorated for the dressing of the Madonnas in the month of August.
In June we began wheat harvest. At dawn the farmers were already in the fields and were sharpening the scythes with the whetstone which they always kept wet in a horn hanging from their belt with water inside. They crossed their foreheads and after pronouncing the "name of God" aloud, they bent their backs and began cutting the wheat.
The town was anciently illuminated by oil lamps which were turned on and off by a municipal employee called the lamplighter.
All the houses had one or two floors above ground and the distance between them was no more than four metres, so the women, staying at home doing business, could easily converse with each other or pass objects to each other with a cane. one balcony to another.
The houses had one or, at most, two rooms. Inside there was everything necessary for living: a large bed, a chest, a table, a few chairs and a few stools. In the kitchen the pans, the pignate, wooden or terracotta plates, jars for water supplies and straw baskets hanging on the wall completed the furnishings.
When winter came, we gathered around the brazier, the old people told stories stories from a distant past, of war, of bandits and fantastic figures, of witches, elves, goblins and werewolves.
The best known character was Mamurche, an ogre who lived in underground caves; he had huge limbs, a bull neck and a bearded face. The ogre was gruff, but sometimes he was docile, especially with the quieter and better-behaved children.
Il Travone it was a large dark dragon with the body of a serpent, the head of a griffin, the claws of a lion and the wings of a bat. He was no less fearsome Lupejanàre, that is, a man who wandered around at night, uttering wolf cries. He had a hairy body and scary wolf claws. He was an enigmatic character Scazzamurèdde, the elf spirit: a strange being, with a restless but not evil nature, who revealed himself to children when they threw tantrums or broke the rules. There White Nun, with wide-eyed and wild eyes, usually appeared in secluded places; she wore a white tunic, did not speak or threaten, but prevented anyone from entering the places designated for her.