The Way of the Holy Grail Cultural Association (based in Valencia) presides over the initiative to create a new European Cultural Itinerary. The Cultural Association The Way of the Holy Grail is leading the initiative to create a new European Cultural Itinerary through the union of collaborative synergies with all kinds of cultural, tourist and lay associations in Europe and the Holy Land.

This internationalisation project started in October 2019 in the emblematic Ateneo Mercantil building in Valencia. Laying the foundations of a European Consortium in which different institutions took part, among which we highlight the Accredited Consular Corps in Valencia and the Cathedral of the city itself represented by Canon Dr. Jaime Sancho.

Thanks to the meetings held with the Ministry of Culture and, with the support of the Minister of Tourism, Ms. Reyes Maroto, work has continued from civil society to give shape to the initiative and thus be able to present this project to the Council of Europe. This is all positioning Spain as the best country in the world, for walking.

To achieve this goal, the International Association of the Holy Grail in Europe has been created with an international scope and its headquarters are located between Massamagrell and Valencia with the mission of creating and consolidating the main axis that crosses the Pyrenees, all of Aragon and enters the Valencian Community through the municipality of Barracas in Castellón to continue through the Alto Palancia to the Valencian regions of Camp de Morvedre, l’Horta Nord and arrive at the Cathedral of Valencia.

On Thursday 20th April in the Castel Nuovo, also known as Maschio Angioino, the Consorzio ICE Napoli Cammino del Santo Graal was presented under the auspices of IVI Itinerari Video Interattivi, chaired by Salvatore Forte, who is also the main researcher of the Holy Grail of Valencia in the iconographic area of the Castel Nuovo, the actress Annalisa Direttore Testi and the director Francesco Afro de Falco, both members of the IVI cultural project in Naples. The event was covered by the German, French, Italian and Spanish press.

At 3.30 p.m. there was a guided tour in Spanish of the Maschio Angioino in search of the iconographic elements referring to the Holy Grail and the figure of Alfonso the Magnanimous.

Then, in the Sala dei Baroni, at 4.45 p.m., the presentation by Salvatore Forte began with institutional greetings to the authorities present.

At 5.15 p.m. a dramatised entrance of the relic of the Holy Grail was performed with Alfonso of Aragon and his court. All dressed in silk with wonderful background music and an elegant Renaissance style.

Francesco then presented the IVI Naples project, explaining its trajectory since 2015. Showing its research work, its cultural activities, etc.

Accompanied by a video starring the actress Annalisa Direttore Testi who also read a poem about Lucrezia d’Alagno, the Neapolitan woman who won the heart of the monarch Alfonso the Magnanimous.

Once the speeches were over and the gifts had been handed out: a large handmade socarrat, painted by the Emperor’s Housewives, small socarrats, Pilgrimage Credentials for all those attending, two stamps for stamping them, maps of the international map of the Way of the Holy Grail, insignia and commemorative plaques, the framework agreement of collaboration between the Cultural Association The Way of the Holy Grail, IVI Naples and the International Association The Way of the Holy Grail in Europe was signed.

On Friday 21 April, a route will be studied in the city of Naples to complete the experience of the legacy of the Holy Grail in the city through the study of the pilgrimages and the most emblematic places of what was once the capital of Magna Graecia (Neapolis).

A meeting is scheduled at 10:45 in Piazza S. Domenico Maggiore to visit the Church and have a meeting with the Prior (as this place is one of the points of the urban route of the Way of the Holy Grail in Naples).

Then there will be a visit to the church of S. Aniello in Caponapoli and Mrs. Anna Savarese, president of Legambiente which manages the church and may also be part of one of the stops on the urban route.

As a complement to this trip to Italy, other activities of an informative nature are also planned in the city of Rome, but for reasons of protocol, these will be announced once the trip is over.

A contingent of 9 people have left from Valencia and will be joined by two more from different parts of Spain with the mission of supporting this initiative, that positions the city of Valencia throughout Europe as the end point of a European Cultural Itinerary!

Since October 2015, the Holy See has granted Valencia Cathedral the privilege of celebrating a Jubilee year in perpetuity every five years. All this thanks to the veneration and custody that has been held for XVII centuries over the most important relic of Christianity: the Holy Chalice, the Holy Grail.

This means something fundamental for the city that was once the capital of the Crown of Aragon. Due to the frequency of the Jubilee celebrations (every 5 years), the city of Valencia is the third most important city in the world after Jerusalem and Rome. Two cities that mark the European Cultural Itinerary of the Way of the Holy Grail along its historical route.

All the actions to consolidate and disseminate the international tourist story of the Way of the Holy Grail are financed with funds from the Cultural Association The Way of the Holy Grail since its beginnings. Its president, Dr. Ana Mafé García publicly thanks the collaboration offered this year 2023 by the funding of Tourism Comunitat Valenciana through a nominative subsidy by resolution that will allow to develop these dissemination events and projects with the maximum guarantees.

 Report by ‘24/7 Valencia’  team

Article copyright ’24/7 Valencia’