City Councillor Guarino-Sawaya named World Ambassador of Mirabella Eclano, Italy

Special to The Advocate

During a recent trip to Naples, Italy, Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya was honored by Mayor Giancarlo Ruggiero of the city of Mirabella Eclano in the province of Avellino, Campania, with an Ambassadorship. At the 2024 Festival of Immigrants, Guarino-Sawaya was given the title of World Ambassador of Mirabella Eclano, a city where both her parents were born and where she spent all her childhood summers. This prestigious honor has been bestowed upon her until 2028.

The plaque reads:

 “2nd Mirabella Eclano Ambassadors Award in The World ‘Feast of The Emigrant 2024’

“On behalf of the Mayor of Mirabella Eclano Giancarlo Ruggiero and the President of the Destination South Network Michelangelo Lurgi, as part of the 2024 Year of Return Tourism project, we are pleased to confer to Angela Guarino Sawaya the title of Ambassador of Mirabella Eclano in The World. Mirabella Eclano September 11/12, 2024 Giancarlo Ruggiero, Mayor of Mirabella Eclano, “Michelangelo Lurgi, President.”

Guarino-Sawaya had the privilege of touring the City Council Chambers, Mayor’s Office and Mirabella Eclano’s very historic City Hall full of ancient artifacts and ruins. She also had the privilege of being a part of the Madonna Addolorata Festival – La Grande Tirata (The Great Pull) – a religious event held every Saturday preceding the third Sunday in September in Mirabella Eclano in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows to ensure a fruitful harvest of wheat.

During the ancient farmer’s festival, 12 oxen and a tractor carry the 82 foot (25 meter) layered, handcrafted obelisk with the Madonna attached high above. It also has 38 ropes attached that are 50 meters each to balance it during the slow pull by residents and tourists who with singing, dancing and pulling the structure up and down the steep streets of the city starting at a small village called Santa Caterina with the big day of celebration throughout the entire city. It lasts five hours and is an amazing event to see and be a part of.