Sagre and Feste in each Sicilian province: Messina

Throughout the year, Sicily offers the occasion to enjoy the best local food and traditions for locals and visitors.

A town or city’s Sagra will feature a particular speciality celebrated and usually consumed for only a few Euros. Some people hire a camper, particularly in the summer and go from sagra to sagra, depending on what is on offer and get some good but extremely cheap meals during their summer vacation. While this is a little extreme, there is no harm in seeking out the experience of a sagra during your visit.

While a religious saint day celebration of Festa is when you will see the entire town or city in its best clothes filled with music, pageantry and colour. A Festa celebrates each city’s unique link with its patron saint and protector, who has become an integral part of a place’s history and is deeply loved by the locals.

Many people choose to name their children after the local Saint; the delicate wooden statues used during processions are jealously guarded and looked after as they are important symbols and are usually valuable religious works.

A festa is usually based on religious celebrations, but there is a focus on other elements like markets, music performances and other events organised to celebrate a Patron Saint.

This month I will be publishing a series of posts with the main sagra and festa events from each of the nine provinces of Sicily.

I’ll put the information into a simple infographic so you can save or pin it on Pinterest as a general guide for your next trip to Sicily.

I won’t include major holidays and celebrations that are celebrated everywhere like Christmas, Carnevale, Easter or San Giuseppe (which is Father’s day in Italy).

Please note that the dates may change from year to year, but the sagras feature seasonal food harvested around the same time every year, and Patron Saint celebrations have the same annual dates.

Here are some events to keep an eye out for in the province of Messina during the year:

Please note that every town in Sicily will have its own unique sagra and festa dates, so the possibilities are endless.