The excellence of the territory
In Sant’Angelo Muxaro
the first festival dedicated
to the Sican wild asparagus
Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14
big party between show cooking
tastings and excursions
If you have a santangelese friend and asparagus is your passion, you know, it’s game on. With good peace of mind for the friend, since, willingly or unwillingly, he will be “forced” to let you have those champion asparagus delicacies, which grow in abundance in the countryside of Sant’Angelo Muxaro.
An excellence of the area that also ended up in the electoral program of the young mayor Angelo Tirrito, 33 years old next June 2 and in his second term. In fact, the first Sagra dell’asparago selvatico sicano (Sican wild asparagus festival ), which will take place in the small Agrigento village on Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, was one of the workhorses of his campaign for last year’s local elections. And in the intentions of the municipal administration and the event’s promoters, the festival is not only meant to be a great celebration dedicated to an excellent product rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber and with well-known diuretic and depurative properties, but the driving force behind a new adventure: the cultivation of the Sican wild asparagus.
“In our territory,” says Mayor Angelo Tirrito, “there are already experimental cultivations of Sican wild asparagus, and it has already been seen that its typical characteristics are maintained even in the cultivated product.
“In addition,” says Pierfilippo Spoto, creator and one of the promoters of the initiative, “the European community sees its cultivation in a positive light; therefore, all that remains is to promote in the best possible way this product that is so characteristic of our territory that it is mentioned in more than one proverb.
THE PROGRAM. Organized by the Municipality of Sant’Angelo Muxaro with Val di Kam and the Sicani Rural Quality District, the first Sican Wild Asparagus Festival will feature the town’s main square, Piazza Umberto I.
Saturday, April 13, opens at 5 p.m. with institutional greetings and a conference dedicated to “Treasures of the Earth,” organized by the municipal department of Agriculture and Tourism. From 7 p.m. onward, live music and delicious tastings that will see the Sican wild asparagus as the protagonist of many recipes and also of an original dessert created by Santangelese pastry chefs, especially for this occasion.
On Sunday, April 14, it starts early, at 9 a.m., with a trek “On the trail of the Sican king Kokalos,” organized by the Sicani Outdoor association. With Legambiente, however, you can explore the Vallone del Ponte with the Ciauli Cave and admire the flora and fauna that animate the underground river, a tributary of the Platani.
Meanwhile, in Umberto I Square, thebooth areawill open and at 9:30 a.m. ameeting will be held by Slow Food Agrigento, dedicated to the use of wild herbs and shrubs in cooking and handicrafts; this will be followed by a show cooking, by the Borgetto trattoria in Joppolo Giancaxio, which will prepare a tasty Sicilian wild asparagus velouté on bread crust.
At 10:30 a.m., there will be ameeting on “The cultivation of wild asparagus in the Sicani” by the Euromediterraneo Studio of San Biagio Platani, which will also be attended by Professor Giuseppe Di Miceli of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Palermo. At 11:30 a.m., however, the stands will open for lunch-tasting with dishes such as fava bean macco with wild asparagus tips, proposed by the Marlò restaurant in Raffadali or gourmet sandwiches by Prosciutteria, also from Raffadali. Also prepared is a tasting tray, from first course to dessert with a glass of wine included, at the modest price of 5 euros.
In thetalk area, at 3:30 p.m. the Municipality of Sant’Angelo Muxaro’s membership of the Dmo (the acronym stands for Destination marketing organization) of the Valley of the Temples will be formalized; at 4:30 p.m. space will be given to “Sicani in progress,” to take stock of all the projects affecting the area; and at 5:30 p.m. “Four chats in the courtyard” to talk about “Time in the villages, between tourism and philosophy” with Salvatore Presti and Pierfilippo Spoto.
And from words to glasses, at 6:30 p.m., with “A River DiVino,” a tasting of wines produced in the Platani area, organized by the Italian Sommelier Association of Agrigento.
Music performed live by the area’s most interesting and representative bands will provide the soundtrack for the entire event.
“Our main objective,” says Mayor Tirrito, “in addition to conveying the image of Sant’Angelo Muxaro as much as possible, is the deseasonalization of presences. In Apennine villages smaller than ours, this already happens and tourist flows affect, more or less, all year round. It is, therefore, necessary for us to build a virtuous circuit, to activate synergies. Between b&b and vacation homes, our village has about forty beds, but we are already working on a widespread hotel project. Meanwhile, by June the interactive signage will be activated, which will allow, through a dedicated app and the QR code system, to know the different tourist routes, also pointing out their accessibility for the disabled.”
Text by Angela Mannino
