Casacce: this was the name given to flagellant brotherhoods in Genoa, later transformed into procession societies. The devotion of the disciplinarians or flagellants who together traveled from one town to another, fighting and singing hymns, began in Perugia around 1260, spread rapidly and in Genoa gave rise to associations that practiced the same penance in common in the oratories: near these they were ruined huts in which the brothers undressed and dressed, and therefore the associations were also called houses. At the end of the century XVI or at the beginning of the XVII century, customs had already degenerated, since against abuses there were archiepiscopal constitutions and sumptuary laws and the five wise men were elected over the houses: at the beginning of the century. XVII the procession of the casacce is no more than a pomp without penance, transferred from Good Friday to May 3rd, the feast of the invention of the Cross.
Their members, dressed in sack tunics and hoods, walked through the neighborhoods of the Superba in occasion of particular religious holidays, reciting prayers and sacred songs. As the centuries passed, from simple tunics we moved on to sumptuous clothing, competing with the richness of the vestments, as can be clearly seen from these tables. In the 18th century there were twenty Confraternities, four for each neighborhood and their processions were very popular and the subject of contention (a bit like the Palio in Siena). The protagonists were the "Brassezei" who held crucifixes more than five meters high and weighing over one hundred kilos, leaning on the crocco (leather case tied at the waist ), to the rhythm and time of music.
The most admired and prestigious Confraternities were named after Saints Giacomo and Leonardo, San Giacomo delle Fucine and S. Antonio Abate della marina. These competed every year to excel over the others in terms of originality, pomp and opulence of the apparatus.The processional chests were of great importance, depicting the life-size characters, whose main creator was Maragliano.