Dies Natalis reached the sanctuary at midnight before more than thirty thousand people: how the 3 September 2026 transport in Viterbo went and how to plan for 2027.
Updated 4 September 2026 — the day after the transport. Below: how the night went.
On the night of 3 September 2026 Viterbo stood still. At 9.08 pm, in Piazza San Sisto, head porter Luigi Aspromonte called out «Sollevate e fermi!» — lift and hold — and around a hundred men raised Dies Natalis onto their shoulders: almost thirty metres of illuminated spire, five tonnes of it. At 11:55 pm, just before midnight, it stood before the sanctuary. This is the Macchina di Santa Rosa, UNESCO intangible heritage since 2013, and it happens once a year.
If you missed it, the next date is the evening of 3 September 2027: after the transport, this year's Machine has been taken apart.
What happened on the night of 3 September 2026
The 2026 transport — the third for Dies Natalis, the Machine designed by Raffaele Ascenzi — was dedicated to peace. The city switched off its lights and the tower moved through the dark between the facades, in a silence broken only by the head porter's orders and by applause.
The stages were the traditional ones: Piazza San Sisto, Piazza Fontana Grande, Piazza del Plebiscito, Piazza delle Erbe, the church of the Suffragio, Piazza Verdi, and finally the climb to the sanctuary, taken almost at a run. More than thirty thousand people lined the route. Two extraordinary «Sollevate e fermi» remembered 1946, the first transport after the war, and 1986, the year «Armonia Celeste» came close to falling. Beneath the Machine, eleven porters carrying it for the first time.
What the Macchina di Santa Rosa is
The transport is Viterbo's homage to its patron saint, and it has been repeated for centuries. The current Machine, Dies Natalis, is a gothic spire of light metal and fibreglass, studded with statues and live flames, which at night looks like a cathedral on the move. The porters lift it onto their shoulders and carry it a little over a kilometre between two walls of people, with halts in the squares and a final climb in the dark, guided only by the head porter's voice. A new Machine is designed every five years: Dies Natalis will serve until 2028.
Where to stay
Villa Vacanze Valentina is in Bassano in Teverina, in the green heart of Tuscia: two apartments in the villa and a cottage for two.
Who the Facchini are
The men who carry the Machine — about a hundred under it at any one time, 170 in 2026 — are not performers: they are the Sodalizio dei Facchini di Santa Rosa, a brotherhood you join by selection — strength tests included — and where a place under the Machine often passes from father to son. The white uniform with the red sash and the ciuffo, the leather headpiece that protects the skull under the weight, are a uniform of honour: for a Viterbese, being a facchino is among the most serious things in life. Before the transport they receive the blessing in articulo mortis — because carrying five tonnes uphill in the dark has never been a game.
In brief — the transport of 3 September 2026
- When: Thursday 3 September, «Sollevate e fermi» at 9.08 pm in Piazza San Sisto.
- Arrival: at the sanctuary of Santa Rosa at 11:55 pm on 3 September.
- Crowd: more than thirty thousand people along the route.
- The Machine: «Dies Natalis» by Raffaele Ascenzi, almost 30 metres, 5 tonnes, its third transport.
- Recognition: UNESCO intangible cultural heritage since 2013 (Network of Italian shoulder-borne processional structures).
The next transport: 3 September 2027
The date never changes: the evening of 3 September, every year. If you want to be there, plan months ahead — accommodation in Viterbo sells out early, the centre closes to traffic from early afternoon, and the best spots along the route are taken hours before. Choose a place and stay in it: the Machine passes only once. And eat before or after, not during.
The natural pairing: Viterbo by day
If you come for the Machine, reach Viterbo in the early afternoon: the medieval San Pellegrino quarter — the largest of its kind in Europe — and the Palace of the Popes are worth a full day. If you stay on, add the Terme dei Papi (the following day's soak is well earned) and the gardens of Villa Lante at Bagnaia, ten minutes from the centre. Our full city guide is in what to see in Viterbo in one day.
Where to stay for the Macchina di Santa Rosa
Hotels in Viterbo fill up well in advance. Villa Vacanze Valentina is at Bassano in Teverina, about 25 minutes by car: on the night of the transport you reach the city easily and afterwards you return to the quiet of the countryside — and the next morning you wake up by the pool instead of in traffic. From Rome it is a little over an hour, with the A1 Orte exit a quarter of an hour from us. See the holiday home with pool or message us on WhatsApp. For every other festival in the area, season by season, there is our calendar of events and festivals in Tuscia.
Photo: Dietrich Kuhlgatz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
