Borghi dei Tesori Fest – A Treasure of a Village

A village telling its own story

A Treasure of a Village is the event through which the Municipality of Custonaci, a small town in the province of Trapani, Sicily, participates in the Borghi dei Tesori Fest, a festival created by the Le Vie dei Tesori Foundation in Palermo to highlight the island's smaller gems. For an entire weekend, this village, famous for its marble quarries and its Marian Sanctuary, opens usually inaccessible sites to the public and brings its streets and squares to life with music, folk traditions, and guided itineraries. The historic center is closed to traffic, becoming a vast, walkable path of discovery.

Places of discovery

The heart of the event lies in the extraordinary opening of often inaccessible treasures. Featured sites include a World War II bunker, a rare example of "monoblock" military architecture carved into a cave and stone-clad to blend into the landscape, housing a small exhibition of period memorabilia; the Porta del Sole, a striking archaeoastronomy monument of the Erice countryside that functions as an ancient solar calendar; and the Cerriolo Suburban Park, a microcosm of Custonaci's identity with green trails, a disused marble quarry, a prehistoric cave overlooking the sea, and religious-themed marble sculptures. Additionally, the MAC – Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Marble and Caves, the Grotta della Clava, and the Sanctuary of Maria Santissima di Custonaci open their doors.

Folklore and tradition

Custonaci has been recognized as a City of Folklore by the Italian Federation of Popular Traditions, and the event celebrates this identity with performances by Trapani-based folk groups, most notably the Cala Bukutu Folk Group, and the involvement of the "Enrico Fermi – Lombardo Radice" Comprehensive Institute. Folk traditions, costumes, and dances become the common thread of an event that weaves together the tangible and intangible heritage of the territory.

Music and spirituality

Alongside folk concerts in the square, the festival offers high-quality musical appointments, such as the "Natural Cello" concert by cellist Alessio Pianelli, hosted in the setting of the Sanctuary of Maria Santissima in a dialogue between music and spirituality, created in collaboration with the MeMA – Mediterranean Music Association. For younger visitors, the "Talent Workshop" project offers active citizenship workshops immersed in the nature of Cerriolo Park.

A community project

The event stems from the collaboration between the Municipality of Custonaci, the Pro Loco Custonaci APS, the local network of associations, and the Sicilian Region, as part of the regional circuit of the Le Vie dei Tesori Foundation. More than just a calendar of events, "A Treasure of a Village" is an opportunity to rediscover the identity of a village in western Sicily and to experience the relationship between community, landscape, and memory.