SPERLINGA ROOTS FEST – DAMA DEI CASTELLI DI SICILIA

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Between the Nebrodi and the Madonie, stands Sperlinga, famous for its castle partly dug into a gigantic mass of sandstone by the Sicels starting from the twelfth century BC and partly built on the same rock around the year 1000.
The only rock castle in Sicily, inside in 1282, at the time of the Sicilian Vespers, a French garrison barricaded itself resisting the siege for a year.
The episode, in addition to being remembered by a posthumous inscription on the arch in the entrance hall of the manor (Quod Siculis placuit sola Sperlinga negavit), is cited by Torquato Tasso in Gerusalemme conquistata, which thus refers to the story of the Angevin garrison protected by the local lords during the Vespers: “Neither those of Cefalù will remain on the back/ nor were those of Messina in war stanghi,/ or of Catanea, where he has the knowledge of the hotel, or of “Sperlingo, to the end pitiful to the Franks”.
The Historical Parade of the Lady of the Castles of Sicily, an event now in its twenty-seventh edition, is nothing more than the transposition in a re-enactment key of the history of Sperlinga, with particular reference to the Sicilian Vespers.
The procession, in which delegations from numerous Sicilian municipalities participate, united to our town by the presence of the vestiges of a medieval castle, runs through the streets of the whole town.
In the open spaces located at the foot of the suggestive manor, rightly considered unique for its particular rock structure from which the masonry buildings seem to rise, medieval shows and events will be set up.
At the end of the impressive procession – which will include flag-wavers, musicians and jugglers – an evocative representation of the siege suffered during the Sicilian Vespers will start from the towers of the castle.
This is an event of regional importance to be held on August 16, 2024, and which in past years has attracted over 10,000 visitors to Sperlinga, with their own procession in tow, representing 27 municipalities on the island.
As already mentioned, this year’s is the twenty-seventh edition of the event, which is now not only an important promotional vehicle for the image of Sperlinga, but also a moment of cultural dissemination through the dramatization of the salient episodes of the Sicilian Vespers.
The historical parade ends with the presentation of the noble families from the various municipalities participating in the event, of which the main biographical notes are remembered.
Finally, among the noblewomen impersonated in the historical procession, the Lady of the Castles of Sicily is crowned.
The event has been an essential event for years in the circuit of medieval castles in Sicily, also in consideration of the purely cultural slant.
As part of these study meetings, poets and writers from Sicilian centers where the dialect of clear derivation from the French language is still spoken, engage in literary competitions and bloodless challenges to the sound of rhymes.
Through the implementation of the initiatives described, the Administration, in addition to conveying the image of Sperlinga and its architectural beauties and disseminating the history of the Sicilian Vespers, aims to accredit the town as a driving force of tourist and cultural initiatives in the Sicilian hinterland.