Ricotta Festival

A tradition scented with rural Sicily

The Ricotta Festival is one of the most heartfelt and defining events of Sant'Angelo Muxaro, a small town in the Agrigento hinterland, set in the heart of the Sicani Valley in Sicily. Celebrated for over sixty years on the occasion of Epiphany, the event turns the village into a vast open-air theatre where pastoral culture, popular spirituality, and traditional flavors merge into a single day of celebration.

Ricotta prepared in the square

The heart of the festival is the live preparation of ricotta. At dawn, shepherds lead their flocks from the countryside to the central Piazza Umberto I, where they set up their stations and begin working the milk in large copper cauldrons. Visitors are offered hot, freshly made ricotta, along with other local specialties like tuma cheese, ricotta cassata, and cannoli, in an experience that tells the deep bond between the community, the land, and ancient flavors.

The Vastasata and folk theatre

In the afternoon, the Vastasata di Nardu e Riberiu takes the stage—a tragicomic folk play with roots dating back to the early 20th century. The two shepherds, Nardo and Riberio, upon hearing the news of the birth of Baby Jesus, seek a way to reach the Nativity, creating lively scenes and dialogues in the Sicilian dialect. The day also features the performance of Erodiade, including the Three Wise Men and the figure of the tyrant Herod.

Horses, bagpipes, and devotion

• The village awakens to the sound of bagpipers wandering through the streets
• The parade of horses adorned for the festival, with riders, owners, and farmhands
• An equestrian stroll through the alleys of the historic centre
• The spiritual conclusion with the procession of the Baby Jesus and the celebration of Mass

A village to discover

The festival is also an opportunity to discover Sant'Angelo Muxaro, known for its rock-cut necropolises and the famous Grotta di Sant'Angelo (the so-called Tomb of the Prince), evidence of the ancient Sicani civilization. In recent years, the event has also been promoted as part of the 'roots tourism' project, under the name Mushar Roots Fest, inviting emigrants and their descendants to rediscover their origins in this authentic corner of inland Sicily.