Montalbano Elicona to host PANES bread festival

The sixth edition of ‘PANES – Festa del Pane di Montalbano’ is scheduled for Sunday, August 23, in the historic center of Montalbano Elicona. Organized by the Associazione Giovan Guerino in memory of Antonella Caruso, the event aims to celebrate local rural culture, ancient trades, and gastronomy.

The program begins at 10:00 AM in Piazza Maria SS. della Divina Provvidenza with guided tours through the Serro and Matrice districts to showcase the village's historical and architectural heritage. At 4:30 PM, a peasant procession will reconstruct the stages of bread production, from raw material preparation to wood-fired oven baking. This reenactment will feature folk music and dances by the groups ‘I Cariddi’ and ‘Insieme Siciliano’.

A gastronomic path will offer traditional Sicilian dishes, including various bruschettas, guastella with fresh ricotta, and pane cunzato. The event serves to preserve the intangible heritage of peasant civilization, highlighting how grain processing and domestic production once served as central pillars of family life and community knowledge transfer.