On the Sunday close to January 17th, in Sermoneta there is the traditional feast of St. Anthony Abbot with the blessing of the animals and the festival of polenta.
The blessing of the animals and the ‘paioli’ (copper pots for polenta) takes place in the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Cielo and then the distribution of polenta topped with sausage and pork sauce occurs in Piazza del Popolo. During the day the flag bearers perform and you can find stands of local products.
On the following 4 Sundays the festival takes place in each of the hamlets of Sermoneta: Doganella di Ninfa, Monticchio, Pontenuovo - Carrara, Sermoneta Scalo, Tufette.
The festival and the feast have ancient origins and are mentioned for the first time in an edict of 1622 by the Canon Leonardo Scincia of Sermoneta, at that time papal governor in Tossignano (BO).
Maize had arrived in Europe after the conquest of the Americas and is thought to have arrived in Sermoneta with Guglielmo Caetani in 1504.
The Caetani had been turned away by the Borgias, who for some years had control of the castle, and had the opportunity to tour the world and on their return carried a bag with the seeds of 'mahiz'.
At first the polenta was given to the prisoners instead of the wheat pastas, but soon spread among the shepherds while migrating their stock. But the duke decided to organize a day of celebration in which to help the shepherds in the winter cold by organizing a distribution of polenta topped with pork during the feast of Sant'Antonio Abate, which coincides with the start of the carnival.
A curiosity is the Italian name of corn, the word corn comes from the likeness of the 'hairs' of corn to the whiskers of Turkish corsairs, in those years acerbic enemies of the papal state.
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