With over 130,000 attendees in three days, the Sfincione Fest in Bagheria, now in its seventh edition, is now among the main food and wine events in Sicily. The event, organized on 22, 23 and 24 November by the La Piana d’Oro Association and produced by Catanzaro & Partners, with the contribution of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Mediterranean Fisheries of the Sicilian Region, offered, with the patronage of the Municipality of Bagheria, the city and the entire Piana area, three days of shows. What attracted the general public was not only the music of Cugini di Campagna and Sugarfree in Piazza Madrice, but also the crackling series of cooking shows embellished by the hosts Sasà Salvaggio, Nadia La Malfa and Marianna Bonanno and staged in the spaces of the Sfincione Taste set up with the contribution of Masaf in Piazza Garibaldi, in front of the eighteenth-century Villa Palagonia. All accompanied by tastings, which made Corso Umberto I the heart of the party in the many operators’ stations in Bagheria, Palermo and numerous other centers in the province and also in other areas of Sicily. The underlying theme is the gastronomic culture linked to traditional products, starting naturally from the sfincione, in the Bagheria version, white in colour, and in the Palermo version, prepared with tomato. Poor food which, thanks to the art of bakers and restaurateurs, becomes a sumptuous moment of gastronomy and conviviality, as also demonstrated by the meetings organized by the Sfincione Revolution format financed by the Department of Productive Activities of the Sicilian Region to accompany the journey of knowledge and the diffusion of gastronomic culture, exalted by great interpreters. In the Sfincione Taste there were also those, like the chef from Bagheria, Tony Lo Coco, who offered a starred restaurant reinterpretation of the typical product, proposing a sfincione cream seasoned with white shrimp and obtaining a result with a delicate and captivating flavor . Or those who, like Andy Luotto, the chef who the older ones remember as a comic actor in cinema and on TV, wanted to give an essay on the recovery of the remains of the sfincione production, while Luciano Di Martino, made popular by the show Masterchef Italia , has chosen to “clear through customs” the least accredited of the poor excellences of Palermo cuisine, the frittola, shown to the public in seafaring insolution, with the scraps of cod, capon, octopus and squid, flavored with a sfincione mayonnaise. The poor fish of Sicilian culinary history has also confirmed itself as an exceptional condiment in the dish proposed by chef Seby Sorbello, the pancake with ricotta and anchovy, or in Giusina’s iconic pasta with sardines in the kitchen. Lesson in taste and lightness in the sfincione with the long-cooked and unfried onion by Daniele Vaccarella, as well as in the triple leavened proposal – the last one in a pan – by Pierangelo Chifari. Among the delights of the bakers present in Corso Umberto, there are numerous variations made known to the general public, from the trio of cheeses (caciocavallo, tuma and ricotta) of the pan-baked «white» from Monreale to the round «red» from Santa Flavia, for a kaleidoscope of flavors and aromas that made the tens of thousands of visitors happy to wait their turn in an orderly manner at the “little houses” before testing the quality of the product. During the three-day period there will also be space for the competitions promoted by Molino Riggi: the Sicily Young Bakery Competition, won by Gianfilippo Castaldo, and the national Pizza dell’Identità championship, which went to Campania thanks to the Casatiello of the award-winning Carmine Pellone. The appointment is in 2025 for an event that has the ambition of making sfincione the “pizza of the Sicilians”, a brand to be increasingly spread in Italy and around the world.