Borghi dei Tesori Fest

A widespread festival among the villages of Sicily

The Borghi dei Tesori Fest is the branch dedicated to small towns of the better-known Le Vie dei Tesori event, organized by the foundation of the same name together with the Borghi dei Tesori association. For three weekends in May, a network of twenty-five Sicilian villages opens churches, convents, artisan workshops, and places that are normally closed or rarely accessible to the public, accompanying visits with walks, experiences, workshops, and tastings led by local youth. Among these villages is Burgio, a municipality in the Sicani Mountains in the province of Agrigento, in the heart of western Sicily.

Burgio, the village of bells and ceramics

Nestled in the Sicani Mountains, Burgio guards an extraordinary artisanal tradition that still characterizes the town today: the sound of the bells from the last foundries and the intense scent of tin-glazed ceramics. The village preserves an ancient layout made of chiaroscuro, stone portals, and historic workshops, with the ruins of the Acristia castle in the background, telling the story of the Sican origins of the settlement.

The treasures unveiled by the festival

During the event, Burgio opens its most surprising sites:

• the Church of San Giuseppe, completely immersed in putti, allegories, and stucco frames, so much so that it is defined as the "Sistine Chapel of Sicily";
• the Virgadamo and Cacciabaudo bell foundries, the only two still active on the island, where one can witness the casting of bells, an art that requires millimetric precision and a musical ear;
• the Capuchin convent, whose crypt houses one of the most impressive collections of mummies, perfectly restored, along with skeletons and funerary furnishings;
• the Church of the Motta, which houses the statues of the Madonna and Saint Michael the Archangel.

Workshops, experiences, and workshops

In addition to guided tours, the festival in Burgio offers workshops on bell casting and local craftsmanship, as well as the discovery of historic ceramic workshops, where visitors observe skills passed down from generation to generation. The Agrigento village is part of a wider circuit that involves neighboring municipalities in the Sicani Mountains during the same weekend, such as Alessandria della Rocca and Caltabellotta, thus building a widespread itinerary among the treasures of inland Sicily.

How it works

The event is based on the coupon system of the Le Vie dei Tesori Foundation: with a single multi-visit formula, one can discover the various places in the circuit, while walks, experiences, and tastings require a dedicated reservation. A formula that has made the festival a highly anticipated event for slow and cultural tourism in Sicily, capable of bringing visitors from all over the island to the small villages.