Francesco D'Elia

Little is known about Francesco D’Elia. He was a contributor to the Salentine journal Apulia in the early 1910s, active on two fronts: religious folklore, with an essay on the cult of Saint Anthony the Abbot and the fòcara of Novoli (from which the text presented here is taken), and dialectology, with his Ricerche Etimologiche Dialettali published in 1910 in the same journal. He wrote from Lecce, though we couldn't find any further biographical detail.

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    The fires of Saint Anthony

    and , 3 July 2026

    Known as Fòcara (from the Latin focus, meaning “fire”) in the Salento dialect of Southern Italy, the Fires of Saint Anthony in Novoli is a colossal bonfire lit annually in honor of Saint Anthony the Abbot, patron saint of animals. In this section of the Past Present Archive, we publish… Read more »

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    Il falò di S. Antonio

    and , 3 July 2026

    Nota come Fòcara (dal latino focus, ‘fuoco’) nel dialetto salentino, la Festa dei Fuochi di Sant’Antonio a Novoli è un immenso falò che viene acceso ogni anno in onore di Sant’Antonio Abate, patrono degli animali. In questa sezione di Past Present Archive pubblichiamo un resoconto etnografico documentato originariamente nel 1913… Read more »

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