Sacred Festivals in Sicily, Italy

A sagra in Italy is a community festival held in the main piazza and nearby streets of a town, dedicated to a local food specialty (or sometimes to a locally venerated saint). There is some form of entertainment, and food for sale at very reasonable prices. Sagra (plural: sagre) comes from the Latin word sacrum, meaning sacred, which tells you how highly Italians hold their local food specialties in esteem. In Sicily in the summer, sagre are held in the evening, when temperatures have dropped and it is bearable to gather in a piazza rather than on the beach.