Feast of Saint Nicholas of Bari and the Immaculate Conception

The most heartfelt festival in Cammarata

In the Sicani Mountains, in the heart of the Agrigento hinterland, the small village of Cammarata experiences its most intense days at the beginning of December. Between the 6th and the 8th of the month, the town celebrates its patron Saint Nicholas of Bari (affectionately known here as San Nicolò) and the Immaculate Conception, two anniversaries that local tradition binds into a single, long devotional embrace summarized by the popular saying "Acchiana Cola, scinni Maria" (Nicholas ascends, Mary descends).

A devotion spanning centuries

The bond between Cammarata and Saint Nicholas dates back to around the year 1000. Legend has it that the Archbishop of Bari, visiting his niece, Countess Lucia—the lady of the lands and the Castle of Cammarata—brought a relic of the saint's body as a gift. The countess commissioned a silver arm to house it and had a church built dedicated to the saint, the ancient Matrice, which was later destroyed by fire in 1624. Since the late 18th century, the relic has been enclosed in a glass case within a gilded wooden half-bust of the Bishop of Myra, the true heart of the festival.

The rites of December 6th

The patronal day opens with morning mass at the Mother Church. In the afternoon, the traditional floral tribute to the saint is offered by the Mayor and the entire citizenry: the procession moves from Palazzo Trajna to reach the Mother Church, where Solemn Mass is celebrated. Immediately after, an evocative procession with the faithful, confraternities, and religious committees accompanies the bust of San Nicolò through the streets of the historic center, in the cold Sicani evening.

The "Scinnuta" of the Immaculate Conception

Once the procession of San Nicolò ends, the festivities for the Immaculate Conception begin. After the saint's statue is returned to the church and placed in its chapel, the traditional "Scinnuta d'Ammaculata" takes place: some of the faithful climb the altar where the Immaculate Conception is located, bring her down by hand, and carry her in procession along the central nave to the churchyard, singing the verses of the ancient hymn at the top of their lungs while the brass band plays the traditional Ninnaredda. On December 8th, at the first light of dawn, a pilgrimage departs from the church of Santa Maria toward the Mother Church for the dawn mass, before the procession of the Marian statue toward the church of San Vito.

A defining appointment

For Cammarata, a municipality in the province of Agrigento in Sicily, this festival is not just a religious event but a moment of collective identity passed down through centuries, capable of drawing many emigrated Cammaratesi back to the village. Between processions, folk songs, brass bands, and the gastronomic traditions of the Sicilian winter, these three days in December remain the most anticipated event of the year.