Cassaro Roots Festival – Feast of Sant'Antonio Abate 2024

The feast of Sant’Antonio Abate 2024 is one of the strongly identifying events of Cassaro, held for more than 100 years on the last Sunday of July, which sees the return of several emigrants every year and which is also carried out with the donations that the people of Cassaro in the world send to the parish, will take place, from 23 to 28 July for the duration of 6 days, events dedicated to return tourism, to give the opportunity to those who have been forced to leave their land to rediscover their origins, native traditions and flavors of the past.
To this end, a festival of typical products will be organized including “mpanate” and “scacciuni”; The performance in the streets of the town of the group “Tamburi di Cassaro and the centenary musical band G. Pappalardo di Cassaro; A photographic exhibition “My roots” at the Visual and Documentary Museum of the Syracusan Ibleo Plateau, where ancient photos will be exhibited that portray what Cassaro was like in past years to give second-generation emigrants the opportunity to see what the places where their parents were born will be exhibited; a conference on the history of Cassaro and its origins, by a local historian.

Cassaro, a UNESCO site in the South-East of Sicily, is a town of 700 inhabitants in the Ibleo area, located upstream of the Pantalica Valle dell’Anapo Nature Reserve.
Our municipality records a strong emigration, which has led over the years to a gradual depopulation with a consequent impoverishment of the social fabric.
On the occasion of the year of roots, this administration wants to give life to events aimed at all the emigrants from Cassara who want to return to discover their roots in their country of origin.

The festival is part of the Cassaro Roots Fest project, an aggregate project of 33 Sicilian municipalities for the Year of Roots Tourism 2024, which will take place over the three weekends between 10 and 26 May 2024 for a total of 9 days.
It will be aimed in particular at all travelers of Sicilian origin scattered around the world who want to return to discover their roots in their countries of origin, helping to enliven those territories of the inland and rural areas of Sicily full of hidden treasures but at risk of depopulation and abandonment.