Street food at Festino in Palermo, Italy. Viva Palermo and Santa Rosalia! скачать в хорошем качестве

Street food at Festino in Palermo, Italy. Viva Palermo and Santa Rosalia!

#travel #food #streetfooditaly #palermo #sicilia #italy #pasta #arancini #santarosalia Some customs and traditions transcend time. Traditions that can captivate you and transport you to another universe, filled with charm and magic, somewhere between devotion and theatre. Perhaps the most famous example in Sicily is the Feast of Santa Rosalia ('u fistinu for the Palermo people), which takes place in mid-July in the majestic and beautiful places of Palermo. It is no coincidence that this event also inspired the most famous travelers who visited the city during the Grand Tour in the 18th and 19th centuries. Santa Rosalia, especially dear to the people of Palermo for her role in eradicating the plague epidemic of 1624, is the absolute protagonist of this great event. An unforgettable spectacle is to watch the popular procession that on the night of July 14th sets off from the Cathedral to the Foro Italico, passes through the Cassaro and follows a route full of memories of hardships and adversity, ending with a joyful celebration of life with fireworks. At the head of the procession, the Archbishop of Palermo and the Mayor of Palermo lead all the inhabitants of the city, who come alive to honor the memory of the saint, joining in an increasingly impressive procession. The central element of the procession is a sumptuous float in the shape of a ship with a statue of the saint, which is built year after year. It is a real mobile stage, ten meters high and almost as long, which is carried by oxen (in the 17th century, it seems, even elephants!). It is richly decorated with roses, angels, cherubs (putti) and tritons, made in a combination of precious gold and baroque shades. The city itself puts on a show: dances, ballets, daring choreographies, lighting effects and, from time to time, cries of “Viva Palermo e Santa Rosalia!” On July 15, the relics of the saint are carried in a silver urn and honored until their return to the cathedral with the blessing of the Archbishop of Palermo. Rosalia Sinibaldi, who lived in the 12th century, spent her short life in a permanent hermitage (Itinerarium Rosaliae in Santo Stefano di Quisquina in Monte Pellegrino) to avoid the fictitious marriage her noble family wanted. According to legend, four centuries after her disappearance, she appeared to a hunter during the great plague in Palermo to honor her remains, which had been left in a cave. Miraculously, walking through the streets of the infected city of Palermo with these newly found relics instantly cured the disease, and the people followed them in procession. There is not a single Palermitan who is not familiar with the traditional food of Festino. There is not a single Palermitan who has not at least once tried Campanian ice cream, sucked babbalucci, fought over a cup of scaccio or refreshed himself with grattatella. But it is also true that food is “for walking”: Palermitans eat and pray, eat and walk, eat and laugh, eat and watch fireworks. Giuseppe Pitré is the first to discuss the Festino menu: “caponatina” (a dish of fried eggplant) - and Palermitans are equally divided between those who prefer eggplant and those who like artichokes, then olives, capers, raisins and pine nuts. “Babbalucci” (boiled snails) with picchi pacchiu (with tomatoes and garlic), which are prepared using a special technique so as not to damage the shell, which is then, strictly speaking, thrown out on the street. There is also vuggiuta (boiled tuna, tunnina, seasoned with oil, vinegar and mint), caciottti (focaccia with lard and cheese) and frozen muluni (watermelon). Today, things have changed a little, but babbalucci and muluni are a must, as are “i favi a cuniggiu” (broad beans boiled with oil, garlic and oregano), the famous “pollancia” (corn on the cob, cooked in traditional aluminum pots) and purpu vuggiuta (boiled octopus, cooked to order and served in chunks with butter, parsley and lots of lemon). If you want to discover the true soul of Sicily, an extraordinary combination of faith, joy, sacred representation, the victory of life over death and the triumph of collective identity, then Fistina di Santa Rosalia is a must-see!