Fracchie (sing. fracchia) are enormous wooden flaming torches, that today are mounted on wheels and transported to accompany Our Lady of Sorrows as she looks for her son. Until the 19th century the procession of the Visit of the Sepulchres on Holy Thursday was followed by all of the confraternities with flaming fracchie. Then in 1873 the bishop of Foggia only authorised the Confraternity of the Seven Afflictions (Confraternita dei Sette Dolori) to perpetuate this procession. The fracchie were once smaller, and were carried in the hands of individuals who paid the Chapter one "carlino" for the privilege. The procession used to stop for the night at the Mother church, to take up the Visit of the Sepulchres again at dawn on Friday, without the fracchie because the sun now lit the way forward. In 1925 the first big fracchia mounted on wheels was built. During the fascist period the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (National Recreational Club) attempted to promote and organise the fracchie, also awarding prizes. In 1957, with the constitution of the Pro Loco (cultural events office) and with the collaboration of the local council, a fixed organisational structure was setup with the task of providing the wood necessary for the construction of the fracchie. In 1954, following liturgical reform, the Coena Domini (Lord's Supper) Mass was moved to the afternoon, with the subsequent moving of the worship of the "sepulchre" and the processions of the confraternities to the evening of Holy Friday, instead of at the beginning if the afternoon. In the 1950s the fracchie took on mammoth proportions, the consequence of "proud competitions of ability" between the carvunère (woodsmen) and the devout. The building and transportation of these enormous fracchie began to take on the form of a trial of ability and courage, the diameter of the mouth even reached 3.5 metres in some cases, and the whole thing could weigh over 100 quintals. At the end of the 1970s the size and weight of the fracchie was subjected to limits. The procession of Our Lady of Sorrows with the fracchie involves tens of thousands of people.
