San Sebastiano Panette Festival

2025 Edition

The 2025 edition of the Panette Festival in San Sebastiano dei Marsi (Municipality of Bisegna, province of L'Aquila) took place as tradition dictates between January 17th and 20th. In the first few days, the women of the village kneaded the simple flour and water dough and shaped the eight-ball votive breads, imprinted with the ancient seal of the Saint and baked in the communal wood-fired oven.

On January 19th, the feast day of Saint Sebastian the Martyr, the young women of the village paraded in a procession with baskets full of panette, adorned with red drapes and flowers, to the small church on the banks of the Giovenco River. After the solemn vespers, presided over by Bishop Giovanni Massaro, the breads were blessed and distributed to the numerous faithful and pilgrims who had gathered in the small Abruzzese village, testifying to the vitality of one of the most identity-defining rituals of inland Abruzzo.