In fact, only one representative of the municipal administration was missing, in the face of a massive presence of faithful (over 600 people), last Sunday, at the feast of the Madonna della Pace, queen of Caprera, as the parish priest, Don Andrea Domanski, defined her , during the mass celebrated at the only church existing on that island, that of the village of Stagnali. Church that comes alive during celebrations and anniversaries but which is a silent place where many people from Maddalena but also many tourists go for a personal prayer or to ask for graces.
The celebration culminated with an equally well-attended procession from the church towards the marina where the solemn blessing was given to the sea and the boats. Just as "every psalm ends in glory" so, after the spiritual moment, the convivial one began, animated by music, by a stall in the Citadel of Charity and by the dinner, equally joyfully attended, the latter by both the participants in the religious function and by others who arrived in the meantime, who offered those present the choice of a double menu, in the "sea" versions (which could not be missing on an island) and "land".
The church of the Madonna della Pace in its current version has existed since 1998 and is located inside a former military barracks. In fact, in the past a small room was used as a chapel for the soldiers present on the island (a Bersaglieri barracks), then abandoned when it was decommissioned. It was restored at the end of the 1950s when, in the same former military battery, parish summer colonies were held, organized by Don Giuseppe Riva, and on Sundays he or a priest would come there for mass. Then in 1998, also as part of the restoration work on the large Stagnali complex, once it had passed from the Military State Property to the availability of the National Park Authority, an entire shed was repaired and restored (partly for a church and partly for an oratory) , curated by a committee made up of residents of the village and the then parish administrator of Moneta and Caprera, Don Domenico Degortes.
