Wheat and Bread Festival in Catenanuova

The wheat and bread festival in Catenanuova is a moment of joy and aggregation, a return to traditions through historical re-enactments in one of the most famous agricultural centers in the Enna area. Catenanuova is known by the name of City of grain, and indeed the immense golden valleys that frame this town, confirm the deep bond that exists between Catenanuova and wheat.
The community's goal is to immerse the latest generations in the agricultural past of their grandparents, including celebrations, parades and tastings, to return to the truest Sicily, rich in traditions and love for the land.

Sagra a Catenanuova: the program of the event

The wheat and bread festival in Catenanuova is organized every year by theTerra Nostra Association and by the Miritello family. A strong passion for their local area and for the typical products of the Enna area prompted these two organizations to set up a celebration dedicated to the agricultural product par excellence, wheat, every year in the village of Catenanuova.

The Sagra a Catenanuova is usually organized in a period between mid-September and the beginning of October, an ideal time to take advantage of the still long days and the mild climate typical of this area.

As soon as you reach Catenanuova, the first sensation you feel is a return to the past, a dive back almost 100 years to relive the scenes of the peasant world more closely, the one mentioned in the stories of our grandparents and great-grandparents. At the center of the celebration is the Pisera, i.e. the typical processing that the wheat underwent once the harvest was finished.
Accompanying this tradition of the agricultural world are the songs of the farmyard intoned by the farmers during the working days, and the exhibition of ancient tools: tools and machines used for the cultivation and harvesting of wheat, still functioning and used for demonstrations. Numerous stands are set up along the streets of the center showing the work of the past, such as the working of wrought iron.

During the Sagra a Catenanuova a rather recent past is retraced and to emphasize this concept a procession is organized that passes through the historic center in which the inhabitants of the town wear historical clothes. Along the main street of the town, in via Umberto, the typical walk of the baroness is staged Anna Maria Statela, founder of Catenanuova and noble figure to whom the town is deeply attached.
History and tradition also pass through the palate and in fact there is no shortage of tastings of typical Sicilian products, including the undisputed star bread. A great celebration with dances, parties and folk music, which enliven the walks of visitors throughout the event.

Sagra a Catenanuova: the origins of the event

The Grain and Bread Festival in Catenanuova has a rather recent history, as it was established just over 10 years ago, but the link that Catenanuova has with wheat is much older. The celebration was combined with the typical celebrations of the patron saint San Prospero and the Madonna del SS. Rosario, but the relationship between Catenanuova and wheat has centuries if not millennia of history behind it.

Since ancient times, the Enna area was dedicated to the cultivation of wheat, as evidenced by historical finds that attest to the cult of Demeter practiced in these areas. Or just think of the description that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe made of the village of Catenanuova in 1787.
Speaking of his trip to Italy, the famous German writer stops to tell of his stay on April 30, 1787 at an inn belonging to the fiefdom of Cuba, and describes a wheat of incomparable beauty that the peasants were already mowing at the end of May.

Although the Sagra a Catenanuova may be of recent origin, the love of Enna for wheat and its products is lost over the centuries. A marriage between Catenanuova and wheat that cannot be lost over the years and that deserves to be remembered and handed down to future generations.

Festival in Catenanuova: what to see nearby

Those who go to Catenanuova to participate in the festival cannot miss some points of artistic and naturalistic interest that the town offers to visitors.
La Church of St. Joseph it is one of the most important churches in Catenanuova.
It is located on Corso Vittorio Emanuele III and was built in 1908, exactly 50 years after the apparition of the Madonna in Lourdes. A passionate and poignant story is linked to this basilica, which was built at the behest of the bourgeois Carmelo Bonanno, to make amends for the way he had treated her daughter, who died after she was repudiated for marrying a man of lower class .
Il Sanctuary of Maria Santissima del Rosario of Monte Scalpello, represents an interesting starting point from a historical point of view, as much as from a naturalistic point of view. At the northeastern edge of the mountain range of the Erei, between Enna and Catania, stands a sanctuary that stands out in the midst of the rich Mediterranean vegetation of this offshoot. A place considered sacred since ancient times because of the remains of three friars who lived a life of solitude and self-denial on the Mount Scalpello.

Festival in Catenanuova: how to reach your destination

Catenanuova is located in the province of Enna and the closest airport is Catania-Fontanarossa, which is located just 42 km from the town.
Those who wish to arrive by train can take the Palermo-Catania railway line and get off at the Catenanuova-Centuripe station.