Hazelnut Festival in Polizzi Generosa

Among the many typical products which are grown in the Polizzi Generosa area, one of the most famous is certainly the hazelnut, to be enjoyed plain or in a thousand sweet and savory preparations. Just to make this specialty better known, every year for 66 editions the hazelnut festival in Polizzi Generosa, an appointment not to be missed to get to know this very tasty fruit better. Here, then, is all that is important to know in order to organize the trip to discover the hazelnut.

Description of the hazelnut festival in Polizzi Generosa

The hazelnut festival held every year in Polizzi Generosa is a strongly desired appointment to make this specialty appreciated by an increasingly vast public. The hazelnut has always been grown in this village in the heart of the Madonie, so most of the local cuisine is made using this ingredient. During the festival, therefore, the food and wine stands they reproduce precisely these recipes that use hazelnuts and which are the most typical brand of this corner of Sicily. In addition to enjoying delicious dishes and being able to buy fresh hazelnuts and all the food products derived from it, visitors will be able to attend musical and cabaret performances but also take a dip into the past with the historical reconstructions that want to re-propose the Polizzi Generosa of the Middle Ages, with many extras to represent the peasant world of the time.

The story linked to the hazelnut festival in Polizzi Generosa

The first edition of the hazelnut festival in Polizzi Generosa was held in 1657, with the aim of making hazelnuts known to a very large public. Year after year the tradition has been kept up, becoming richer and richer in details that have contributed to making theevent's audience a single appointment. For example, in the latest editions Sicilian carts are also involved, which distribute not only hazelnuts but also other agricultural excellences of the area, such as badda bean, sweets and stigghiola.

When the hazelnut festival takes place in Polizzi Generosa

The hazelnut festival in Polizzi Generosa is held at end of August. The precise date may vary according to the calendar and other appointments that are part of the catalog of summer events held in the village.

Where the hazelnut festival takes place in Polizzi Generosa

The hazelnut festival in Polizzi Generosa involves the whole town which is divided into two parts: on the one hand the hazelnut stand while on the other hand the historical reconstructions of medieval peasants who already cultivated hazelnut groves.

What to do during the hazelnut festival in Polizzi Generosa

After having tasted hazelnuts in every possible form, visitors will be able to take advantage of the time left available to discover all that the village of Polizzi Generosa can offer its visitors. The Church of Santa Maria Assunta o Mother Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, for example, has a first nucleus that dates back to the 1170th century and a second that instead dates back to the XNUMXth century. Of the same period, as it was built in XNUMX, is the Church of the Commandery, built by Ruggero D'Aquila. From the point of view of civil architecture, there is the Byzantine castle, later enlarged by Roger the Norman, of which only a few ruins remain, as well as the palatine chapel which was located in the immediate vicinity of the castle. The local archaeological museum, on the other hand, is housed in the rooms of a former Jesuit college built in 1681.

How to get to Polizzi Generosa

Polizzi Generosa can be reached by car, from Palermo, Enna and Syracuse through the A19 and then the E932. Those who move from Catania, on the other hand, must choose the A19 while from Messina the reference road is first the A20 and then the E90. Finally, from Trapani it is advisable to continue exclusively on the E90.
Polizzi Generosa does not have its own train station, so those who wish to travel on the train they will have to refer to the Buonfornello station, which is about 30 km away, and then continue with the local buses made available by the AST company.