La Festa di Santa Lucia is celebrated December 13th, the shortest day of the year and in fact the name of this 3rd-century martyr saint of Siracusa in Sicily signifies “promise of light” or “shining, illluminating.”
Our recent early December visit to Pino’s family in Palermo concluded on December 12th, la vigilia della Festa di Santa Lucia: what a gran finale to our Sicily visit.
As I did daily during our Palermo stay, I headed that morning to the Pasticceria/Bar Gardenia near Pino’s childhood
home in Cardillo (Palermo borgata, i.e,, outlying suburb), completely unaware of the frenzied activity which would greet me.
All the staff was united in feverish preparations for la Festa di Santa Lucia the following day: serving up – and wrapping up to take home – the traditional foods of the day, arancine (stuffed rice balls)….
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…..gateau di patate (potato flan)..
….and cups of la cuccia, a sweet of cooked wheat, sheep’s milk ricotta and candied fruit (chocolate, too, perhaps)…
Beaming barista Roberto knew I would not resist trying that one with my daily espresso!
Anything with sheep’s milk ricotta entices and the amalgamation with the cooked wheat was buonissimo, prompting me to try yet another of the Santa Lucia pasticcine (“small pastries”), the sugar-coated panella dolce:
Pino too succombed to temptation:
In the glass cases all around us, small cups of la cuccia lined shelves:
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Even chocolate was an added ingredient in some cuccie – and larger containers of the Santa Lucia sweet had been prepared, too, for taking home to families:
This typical sweet of Santa Lucia is linked to a 17th-century tradition: on her feast day, December 13th in 1646, according to legend a ship loaded with grain pulled into the port of Palermo, ending a period of serious famine. To alleviate the ravaging hunger, the wheat was not ground but boiled to be eaten at once.
A similar late 18th-centiury story attributes to the city of Siracusa the origins of la cuccia
To immortalize that event, Sicilian tradition mandates the avoidance of flour on her feast day. Santa Lucia feast day foods include arancine (rice balls) and panelle (chickpea flans) and in Palermo, also gateaux di patate.
But I was curious to know more and called my brother-in-law Filippo in Palermo, well-informed on the history of the day. He confirmed the legendary 17th-century arrival of the ship but told me that la cuccia, created to celebrate this day, was not originally made with sheep’s milk ricotta. A more recent addition, he told me, for “la mamma ha fatto la cuccia per noi solo con il latte.” Pino too remembers his mamma’s cuccia made with just milk – and a touch of sugar.
Both agreed that the use nowadays of ricotta di pecora (ricotta of sheep’s milk) – as well as chocolate, candied orange peel or other embellishments – is done “per abbellire la cucina” (“to render more beautiful the cuisine”…i.e, more enticing). Feasting with arancine and gateau di patate, too, on this day is a recent addition to the Festa di Santa Lucia traditions; as Filippo pointed out to me, the arancine are rolled in bread crumbs before frying (or baking) and flour is in the potato flan as well.
Ah, what culinary history is linked to the Sicilian culinary goodness – and to many of the sweets and savories served up at the Pasticceria/Bar Gardenia.
As Pino and I enjoyed our Santa Lucia colazione (Saint Lucy breakfast) con calma, one of the owners, blue-shirted Giulio, and helpers were swiftly wrapping to-go trays of panelle dolci, gateau di patate and arancine, many of the orders called in that morning…
Eleven different variations of arancine were on sale that day!
Filled with meat sauce or with meat and peas, with butter or with four cheeses or with salmon, to name a few fillings.
And one could choose fried aranciine or baked ones…
We would be on our way home to Assisi the next day, December 13th, la Festa di Santa Lucia.
And I imagine that all the shelves crowded with Santa Lucia goodness there at Pasticceria/Bar Gardenia would be empty by evening closing time.
