In the evening the proceeding are accompanied by "Il pianto della Maddona" intoned by female voices.
In the late evening the easter vigil known as the "Uffizio delle tenebre" starts in the churches of the confraternities, and the chants of the local religious traditions are intoned.
These take place from 8.00 a.m. The Confraternita della Morte ed Orazione is the first to set out, followed by the others, who leave from their own churches, singing Psalm 50 of the Miserere, and proceed to visit the Most Blessed Sacrament, moving on to the Church of the Convent of the Capuchin Order. The “Madonne” processions then each stop to pay homage to the Holy Sepulchre there, before returning to their own churches, intoning the hymn Pange lingua gloriosi and the chant Tantum ergo Sacramentum. Each group in the processions is preceded by three children, with the one in the centre carrying the cross with the symbols of the Passion of Christ (whips, hammer and tongs, crown of thorns, sponge, lance and shroud). Behind them are two rows of children, kept in line by the mace bearer, followed by the Brothers of the confraternities, who walk in front of the figures of the Virgin of Sorrows and the Dead Christ. The Confraternita dei Carmelitani Scalzi also carries the 5 statues representing the 5 Mysteries, while the Confraternita di San Pietro only carries the Virgin of Sorrows.
At 3.00 p.m., the Church of Purgatory hosts the only sacred moment of the afternoon, with the Mass of the Presanctified (the so-called “Wild Mass”), during which Communion is given with the Hosts consecrated the day before. This is followed by the “Three Hours of Agony”, with the sermon of the seven words of Christ on the Cross.
At 6.30 p.m., in a single procession opened by the Confraternita of San Pietro, the confraternities and the local people take out in procession the ferculum with the Virgin of Sorrows of the Mother Church and the Dead Christ of the Church of Saint Joseph, the headquarters of the Confraternita dei Cinturati di Sant’Agostino e Santa Monica, which brings the procession to a close. Intoning the Miserere separately, the groups reach the area that symbolises Golgotha, at the edge of the Carmine quarter, where a “Calvary” is set up, with five crosses representing the wounds of Christ. For each cross, the priest recites three Our Fathers and Hail Marys and three Glorias, with the verses “I adore thee, Holy Cross, hard wood of my Lord, I adore thee with my voice, I adore thee, Holy Cross”. After the last cross, the Confraternities and the local people sing a potent, resounding “Evviva la Croce” (Long Live the Cross), which accompanies the procession throughout its return journey. Holy Friday comes to an end with the procession dividing up near the Church of Saint Nicholas, the headquarters of the Arciconfraternita del SS. Sacramento. The Confraternita dei Cinturati di SantÅfAgostino e Santa Monica then accompanies the Dead Christ into the Church of Saint Joseph, where the Miserere is sung from beginning to end. Meanwhile, the other confraternities return with the statue of Our Lady to the mother church, with powerful polyphonic singing accompanying them along the way.
