The excellences of the Sicans
In Chiusa Sclafani
the Festival of Italy’s Best Cherries
Sunday 16 tastings,
music, classic cars and motorcycles
to celebrate the typical fruit
elected Cherry of Italy 2024
An occasion that alone deserves a trip to Sicily. All the more so now that the typical product of this land, also celebrated by Pitrè, has been elected “Cherry of Italy,” the best in the whole country.
Chiusa Sclafani’s cherry won, in fact, the first prize at the 18th National Festival “City of Cherries” that recently took place in the province of L’Aquila, in Raiano.
And that’s not all: the small village in the Palermo area also won second, third and fourth place. A result that rewards the commitment and dedication of local producers: in first place was the Caronia-Vellino company; in second place, Rosanna Gullo’s company; in third, Vincenzo Pollichino’s company; and in fourth, Giuseppina Mendola’s company.
Great excitement, therefore, this year for the 55th edition of the Chiusa Sclafani Cherry Festival, which will be held next Sunday, June 16. A renowned festival that is the spearhead of initiatives for the agro-tourist promotion of the area. And every year, numerous are the visitors who, also attracted by the other typical products and the beauty of a place rich in history and traditions, arrive for the occasion in the small village in the heart of the Sicani, halfway between Palermo and Agrigento.
On the program, numerous shows, including the performance of the Rossini Band of Chiusa Sclafani, exhibition stands with the typical cherries and other specialties of the territory, handicrafts and hobbies. The heart of the initiatives, starting in the morning, will be Piazza Castello. It will also be possible to visit the cherry orchard in the Orto della Sirba, admire historic cars and motorcycles from the “Il Volante Storico di Ribera” rally and vintage cars from the “Non solo Fiat 500 Club Sicilia” rally. In addition, all monuments will remain open to the public; while with traveling shows through the streets of the village, artists from the Agorazein Folk Music Band and the Sud Street Band will perform. In the evening, grand finale with music, again live, in Castello Square.
About the cherry of Chiusa Sclafani also wrote Giuseppe Pitrè: describing the feast of the Most Holy Crucifix, he says that “in the same town some really tasty cherries are cultivated, which are eaten in the same period of the feast.” For years, the local cultivar called Cappuccia, with valuable pomological and organoleptic characteristics, has been cultivated in Chiusa Sclafani with commercial success.
The 55th edition of the Cherry Festival, is part of the program of “Attimi dei Borghi,” the initiative for the promotion of tourism and the territory that sees together the municipalities of Bisacquino, Chiusa Sclafani and Giuliana.
Text by Editors
