«Of course you eat well in Sicily»! The business card of the Cugini di Campagna is a good starting point for the Sfincione Fest 2024, scheduled in Bagheria over the weekend, from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th November. The Roman band, on the scene for over 50 years, will be the attraction, together with Sugarfree, of the seventh edition of the event organized by the La Piana d’Oro Association with the contribution of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Mediterranean Fisheries of the Sicilian Region.
Three days dedicated to the culture of sfincione, with show cooking, guided tours, entertainment and many, many tastings, in Corso Umberto I, in the “houses” of bakers from every corner of the island, ready to introduce the public to the own very personal proposal of the tasty «Sicilian pizza». Without forgetting the music, in Piazza Madrice, starting from 10pm: on Friday evening the Cugini di Campagna, on Saturday the show of the wild 40 dancing to the 90, on Sunday the grand finale with Sugarfree. One of the attractions will be the innovative event called Sfincione Taste, an activity created exclusively for Saturday and Sunday with the contribution of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests. With Sagrim as a partner, which supplied the equipment and materials for the kitchen, in addition to the concert stage, a second stage will be set up in Piazza Garibaldi, where the award-winning pizza chefs Gioacchino Gargano (Saccharum) will alternate between ovens and stoves, Pierangelo Chifari (Archestrato of Gela), Daniele Vaccarella (Ammodo) and Rosalba Lo Iacono (Fuddie in cucina) and Dario Genova (Ozio Gastronomico), the starred chef Tony Lo Coco (I puppets), the chef Seby Sorbello (Sabir) and the chef already competing on Masterchef Italia 9 Luciano Di Marco (Addakuosa), as well as the stars of the food system Andy Luotto (from TV with Renzo Arbore to quality gastronomy in a fifty-year career) and Giusina in the kitchen (the journalist Giusi Battaglia, who has climbed the heights of popularity in times of Covid with her traditional recipes).
«We should organize many more events of this kind – comments the actor-chef – because this is the Italy that counts. Throwing yourself into tradition is the best thing. In Bagheria I will try my hand at a preparation with the leftovers of the sfincione: it will be a poor but rich dish.” «I’m honest – reveals the cook, journalist and TV presenter -: sfincione has been my springboard since I started Giusina’s adventure in the kitchen. From the first time I made it on TV in the different variations, I infected all the leavened food enthusiasts in Italy. I think of Mario from Udine who wrote me a message telling me that his life had not made sense until then, because he had never prepared the sfincione. For him it was the most important culinary discovery of his life.There is no dinner with friends where I don’t prepare it. I love him and I confess that I have a predilection for the one from Bagheria.” In short, there is something for all tastes, with a great master of ceremonies to act as entertainer, the comedian Sasà Salvaggio: «Call me the official taster – jokes the presenter of the event – ​​given that even in America I always have this role of tester, I taste to make others eat. With the sfincione then I go to the wedding. White or red, I always like it and in Bagheria we will have many different proposals. The sfincione like the arancina, in short, in all ways and in all sauces.” Supporting Sasà in hosting the events – in the Sfincione Taste in front of the famous Villa Palagonia – will be two prima donnas such as Marianna Bonanno and Nadia La Malfa, well-known faces of journalism and TV. Representing the white sfincione will be, in order, Panificio Conti, Antica Focacceria 1956, Forneria Scaduto, A’ Pizza and Fratelli Piombino. A gluten-free corner has been planned, curated by “The goodness of Gluten. Not just sfincione but also street food and a point dedicated to pizza with the successful Biga di Palermo format. The other sfincioni from the province of Palermo present at the event will be those from Piana degli Albanesi, Misilmeri, Palermo, Camporeale, Monreale, Santa Flavia, Ficarazzi and Corleone. The event will have two competitions promoted by Molino Riggi: Sicily Young Bakery Competition, which will see four emerging talents competing for the title of best young baker of the year, and the national Pizza dell’Identità championship, a challenge between four regions, Sicily with Peppe Martinez, Lazio with Christian Riccio, Tuscany with Antonio Minissale and Campania with the award-winning Carmine Pellone, who will each talk about a leavened product typical of the popular tradition. There will also be no shortage of presentations and debates that will take place in the Talk Show Arena in Piazza Butifar and the free tasting corners of typical Sicilian products in the House of Sicilian Gastronomy towards 2025, initiatives of the Sicily Region – Agriculture Department. Another novelty is the partnership of the Palermo and Enna Chamber of Commerce and the Arena Group, a leading large-scale retail company which this year celebrates 10 years of the Decò sign in Sicily. «Great objectives and high expectations – says Michele Balistreri, president of the La Piana d’Oro Association, which organizes the Sfincione Fest – for an event that has been promoting our territory for years. In 2017, the year the event began, we achieved a turnover of around 3 million euros. In 2024 we will reach 4 and a half million, with a growth of 50 percent. The Sfincione Fest manages to bring together operators and institutions and becomes a territorial marketing tool aimed at tourism development and economic growth”. «We are planning a strategy to grow the Sfincione Fest – declare Adalberto Catanzaro and Salvatore Scaduto, producers of the event – ​​with the aim of creating connections with other regions and ensuring that the festival dedicated to leavened products can make sfincione recognized as the pizza of the Sicilians;». «The Sfincione Fest – confirms the mayor of Bagheria, Filippo Maria Tripoli – celebrates not only a symbolic dish of our culinary tradition, but also the very soul of Bagheria. With its unique taste and its centenary history, it is much more than just food: it is the symbol of an indissoluble bond with our roots, a cultural heritage that we have the duty to protect and promote. This initiative of the La Piana D’Oro Association, which we thank and support with our patronage, is important for the territory. An opportunity to make Bagheria’s food and wine excellences known to an increasingly wider audience, to enhance the work of our producers and to attract tourists. I thank all those who collaborated in the organization of this event and I invite everyone to participate in large numbers.”