The Sican Network: partners
With Lo Sperdicchio
a record-breaking “taganu”
to celebrate Easter
In Aragon big party
with the typical dish
in extra large version
and the traditional dressing
of Saints Peter and Paul
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. And in the kaleidoscope of rituals and traditions that have characterized Easter on the Island for centuries, in Aragon we find the “dressing of the San Paoloni,” or the imposing wooden statues representing Saints Peter and Paul, co-stars of the encounter between the Risen Christ and Our Lady, reached after “dancing” and “walking” through the crowd.
In charge of the dressing of Saints Peter and Paul for generations are always the same families, three per saint. It is a deep-rooted tradition that the Aragonese community lives with great participation and transport; for the occasion, there are many emigrants abroad who return specially. After Easter Sunday, moreover, the San Paoloni gather together in the country’s churches until the third Sunday after Resurrection Sunday. For the past four years, then, Saints Peter and Paul have also been represented in effigy in the barrel that has become the Aragonese symbol of pilgrims on the Via Francigena.
And from tradition to tradition, we come to “taganu,” in Aragon a typical Easter dish and the protagonist, this year, of a Guinness feat: the making of an extra-large taganu, for which the pan from which it takes its name was specially made.
Calogero Cacciatore, owner with his brothers Salvatore and Gianluca of Lo Sperdicchio restaurant , a partner in the Sicani Villages network and the Sicani Rural Quality District, promoter of “Taganu XXL,” the event to be held Saturday, March 30, at noon at the restaurant on Via Roma; admission is free.
“We will prepare and taste,” says Calogero Cacciatore, a chef like his two brothers, “the world’s largest taganu. To cook it, we have commissioned the making of a mega earthenware pot from master potter Stefano Terrasi. We are very happy to share with the Aragonese community and all those who would like to participate, our challenge. We conceived this celebration with Luciano Graceffa, who signs the design of the maxi pot, and Stefano Terrasi: a way to celebrate the city’s signature dish and be together.”
The event will be broadcast live on the restaurant’s social channels, complete with a video explaining the recipe step by step. A super tasty recipe from the cucina povera, where the stale bread that characterized it in the past has given way to rigatoni, which is now combined with tuma, a typical salt-free cheese, saffron, cinnamon, parsley and eggs. And, then, in the oven for three hours, until it forms that enjoyable crust that in the past allowed the taganu to be stored for up to a week.
Lo Sperdicchio was founded in 2001 and takes its name from the district in which it stands, so named because it was once located in a “remote” area, far from the town center. Its peculiarity is family cuisine, as the owners like to call it, which focuses on the most genuine and typical local products.
“Opening the business,” says Calogero Cacciatore, “was my brother Salvatore, the eldest son, who began his adventure as a cook first in Lampedusa and then moved on to work in France and Germany. But over time the desire to return became unbearable and Lo Sperdicchio was born in Aragona.”
Three chefs and a restaurant that focuses on the enhancement of typical dishes and the excellence of the area, with special attention to promotion and communication. On taganu, for example, a special promotional video was filmed that tells its genesis, starting with the bucolic search for its ingredients through fields and sheepfolds.
Text by Angela Mannino
