Santa Maria di Licodia

Province: Catania · Region: Sicily · Population: 7,322 · Postal code: 95038

In August 1143 count Simone di Policastro entrusted the monk Geremia with the church of Licodia and the lands around it, on condition that he made them fruitful, and with leave to found a village. The monk began handing a plot of land to whoever asked for one, and a space beside the monastery to build a house: that is how the town was born.

In 1205 the monastery became an abbey, and its abbots were granted mitre, ring and crozier like bishops. Long before, Inessa stood here, the Sicel town where in 461 BC the Catanesi driven from their own city took refuge: they renamed it Etna, in memory of what they had lost. There are 7,322 residents.

🎉 Festivals and feasts in Santa Maria di Licodia 1

Patron saint festival In 316 days

Saint Joseph, celebrated in August by the will of a cardinal in 1878

📅 Every year, on the last Sunday of August (liturgical date 19 March)

Santa Maria di Licodia celebrates Saint Joseph on the last Sunday of August: in 1878 a cardinal returned to the town to fulfil the townspeople's requests and grant the patronal celebrations in his honour at this time of year.

🍝 The flavours of Santa Maria di Licodia

Everything to eat in Santa Maria di Licodia →

Street food PAT

Arancino fried rice cone stuffed with ragù, pointed like Etna

Saffron rice, ragù with peas and caciocavallo inside a golden cone-shaped crust: in Catania it is masculine and pointed, and the quarrel with Palermo over the name is serious.

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