Saint Anthony Abbot Festival and the Panarda

An ancestral ritual in the heart of the Marsica

Every January, the small village of Villavallelonga, immersed in the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park in the province of L'Aquila, relives one of the most fascinating and authentic traditions in all of Abruzzo: the Saint Anthony Abbot Festival and the Panarda. This is not an event staged for tourists, but a living rite, practiced with devotion by an entire community that gathers around its patron saint of animals, farmers, and the harvest.

The Panarda: a banquet that defies the night

The heart of the festival is the Panarda, an imposing ritual banquet held on the night between January 16th and 17th in dozens of local homes. Prepared as a vow and an act of charity offered to the Saint, the Panarda can feature over forty courses—some sources claim more than fifty—served until dawn amidst tables laden with food, wreaths of fava beans, apples, tangerines, and ferratelle wafers. The tradition finds its roots in a 1657 document, when Pietro Paolo Serafini distributed a fava bean soup to renew an ancestral vow: to this day, only families descended from the Serafini and Bianchi lineages have the privilege of hosting the Panarda.

The Favata, bonfires, and musical companies

On the morning of January 17th, the Favata takes place: fava beans cooked with bread are distributed from house to house and along the village streets, following a specific order that covers the entire town area by area. During the festival evenings, large bonfires burn in the squares, serving as meeting points for singing, dancing, and storytelling, while the compagnie (musical groups) roam the streets to the sound of accordions and organs, singing hymns dedicated to Saint Anthony.

The Pupazze and the start of Carnival

The most spectacular moment arrives at sunset on January 17th, when the Pupazze—large, female-shaped puppets mounted on frames and operated by a person hidden inside—are brought to the center of the square and set ablaze while everyone sings the Saint's hymn. The Pupazze represent the temptation that plagued Saint Anthony, and their burning is an act of purification, casting away the negativity of the past year. The day is also enlivened by masked parades that kick off the Carnival, featuring rival groups of brutti (the ugly ones), dressed in black and laden with cowbells, and belli (the beautiful ones), in white with flowered hats.

Weekly Program

• January 12-15: Ritual preparations and the blessing of the 'cottore' (large pots), where the fava beans are cooked on the night of the 16th.
• January 16: In the afternoon, a parade in traditional attire with baskets decorated with animals and food; a large bonfire in Piazza IV Novembre and a performance of the Saint's miracles; in the evening, the start of the Panarda.
• January 17: Holy Mass, procession with the Saint's statue, and blessing of the animals; in the afternoon, Carnival masks; at sunset, the burning of the Pupazze.

A heritage to protect

The anthropological richness of this festival has attracted folklore scholars and led to the nomination of the Saint Anthony Abbot and Panarda rites as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. The story of the Villavallelonga Panarda has even reached the Washington Post, a testament to how this tradition of the Marsica and Abruzzo can speak to an international audience without losing its authenticity.