Ancient Flavors Festival

A festival that smells like home

As summer draws to a close, the village of Santa Maria La Stella — a hamlet at 326 meters above sea level shared between the municipalities of Aci Sant'Antonio and Acireale, in the Metropolitan City of Catania — gathers around the church square for the Ancient Flavors Festival. It is one of those celebrations where it is not big names that make the difference, but the aroma of old-fashioned cooking and the sense of community that fills the entire town.

Dishes of memory

The heart of the festival is the table. The villagers cook recipes passed down from grandmother to grandchild, those of the so-called Sicilian 'cucina povera': nothing sophisticated, but everything profoundly authentic. Among the specialties you can taste at the stalls and tables set up in the square are:

• Homemade pasta, rolled and seasoned according to rural tradition
• Grilled sausage, scented with fennel seeds
• Scacciate, the typical stuffed focaccias from the Catania area
• Macco di fave, a thick, creamy fava bean soup that is a symbol of field cooking
• Chickpeas cooked with pork fat and seasoned bread with oil, salt, and oregano

These are dishes that tell the story of the land on the slopes of Mount Etna, shaped by farming, livestock, and a domestic wisdom that the festival keeps alive every year.

Part of the Madonna della Stella celebrations

The festival is not an isolated event: it is part of the celebrations in honor of the Madonna della Stella, the patron saint of the village, which culminate on the last Sunday of August. During the festivities, the village experiences its most cherished traditions — the triumphant exit of the statue, the evocative calata dell'Angelo, the procession through the streets, and the celebration presided over by the Bishop in front of the churchyard — while in the evening, the square comes alive with music and food stalls. The festival, organized by the Madonna della Stella Festival Committee, is a convivial moment where devotion and popular celebration meet.

A late-summer appointment in Sicily

For those visiting the Aci Sant'Antonio and Acireale area between August and September, the Ancient Flavors Festival is a perfect opportunity to discover an authentic Sicily, far from the tourist circuits, where the village of Santa Maria La Stella opens its doors and its kitchens. It generally takes place on the Sunday preceding the last Sunday of August, and in years when Saint Anthony the Abbot is celebrated in Aci Sant'Antonio, it is moved to the first Sunday of September.