Petrae Lilium Roots Fest

Discover

At the same time, the Festival lights up the Municipality with activities related to its treasures, its traditions and its identity heritage with a strong involvement of the community.
Activities already tested on the occasion of the “Borghi dei Tesori Fest 2023” event and which have received particular appreciation from users for the variety of the proposal and for the historical and cultural interest.
In particular, experiences will be offered to learn about history and the territory alongside tastings of typical local products:
Tasting of Sfoglio Madonita at the Catarratti Hydroelectric Power Plant.
Enjoy the history of our territory together with the tasting of a typical local product.
The Catarratti hydroelectric plant, with over 100 years of history, has been the symbol of the change in the history of Petralia Sottana, leading our municipality to be the first town in the Madonie with public lighting, the intent is to combine history with uniqueness such as the Madonie sheet and the morsels produced only by a local pastry shop.
At the same time, a guided tour of the plant will be carried out.
Tasting of Girgentana goat cheeses at the Castle of Petralia Sottana.
Also in this case we want to combine the history of our town with the typicality of local products, this time taking advantage of a panoramic point from which it is possible to enjoy a unique view of Petralia Sottana.

Craft experiences:
Petral violin making and miniatures
You will try the art of violin making and miniatures in a real Petralese “workshop”.
The workshop of a true craftsman capable of manipulating different types of materials, from wood to ceramics, all with traditional techniques.
In contact with the “Centesimo”
The “Centesimo”, included among the DECO products of our municipality, is a crochet method typical of Petralia Sottana.
We will go to a haberdashery to find out what this particular crochet stitch is and how to work.

Identity traditions and natural assets:
Discovering the Pantomime Dance of the Rope
Furthermore, among the identity traditions of Petralia Sottana, we cannot fail to mention the Pantomime Dance of the Cordella, a UNESCO cultural heritage.
A dance, a dance that in the interweaving of its colorful ribbons manages to tell the story of the 4 seasons in a real ritual of thanksgiving that was carried out on the farmyard for the good harvest.
Twelve couples of dancers dance around a pole with ribbons in their hands and with their movements they intertwine them forming figures, one for each season.
The dance is alternated with songs in dialect and a series of musicians accompany both the songs and the dance with local instruments.
The re-enactment of the dance takes place on the first Sunday after mid-August but we will have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in this tradition by watching videos, talking to the dancers, listening to the “friscaletto” live and showing the wonderful costumes of the time.
A walk through history and nature
We will discover an almost fairytale territory rich in history, legends and nature with a short excursion to the bridge of San Brancato and Santo Otiero, from where the columns that support the Mother Church of Petralia Sottana were extracted.