The seven-year rites of penance in Guardia Sanframondi, in Benevento, Italy.

From the alleys of the town, preceded by a smell so nauseating as to create a sense of bewilderment, here come the Battenti: souls without sex and age dressed in a white habit and hood. They hold a crucifix in their left hand and with the right they beat their chest using the "sponge", a circular piece of cork, in which pins have been suitably placed, the tips of which protrude from the cork for about two millimeters spaced at the base of the cork with a layer of wax. This weapon of suffering and expiation is continually bathed in white wine which combines in a pungent smell with the first drops of blood until the red takes over the white so suffering makes its way onto the bodies of those who want to atone for their sins.