© Demetrio46 · CC BY 3.0edited by BigItalia · Request removal
🎉 Procession

Pasqua Arbëreshe (Pashkët)

📍 Piana degli Albanesi · Palermo · Sicily

Holy Week in Piana follows the Byzantine rite, ending on Easter Sunday with a pontifical liturgy, a parade of women in gold-embroidered costumes and red eggs handed out in the main square.

Holy Week here runs on the Byzantine calendar, with liturgies sung in Albanian and Greek. It opens on the evening before Palm Sunday with the Lazëri, a re-enactment of the raising of Lazarus, and builds through the days locals call Java e Madhe, the great week.

Easter Sunday brings the climax: after the pontifical liturgy in the cathedral, women process down Corso Giorgio Kastriota in red silk costumes embroidered with gold, and red eggs — a symbol of resurrection — are handed out in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. The 2025 edition paired the rites with concerts, exhibitions and events staged by the town hall together with the eparchy and the pro loco.

Source & programme ↗ ✉️ Know something about this event? Tell us

More events in Piana degli Albanesi

Food festival

Cannolo Fest – Cannolo Festival

📅 Every year, one weekend in mid-May

Two days in mid-May built around the local cannolo, filled with sheep's-milk ricotta from village dairies: tastings, cooking shows and pastry makers from across Sicily along Viale 8 Marzo.

Patron saint festival

Feast of Maria Santissima Odigitria

📅 Every year on 2 September, with celebrations from the last days of August

The patron saint's day falls on 2 September, with the eparch's pontifical liturgy in the morning and an evening procession of the Madonna's statue; festivities start in late August.

All events in Piana degli Albanesi →