Catania ... the Festival of Saint Agata



This coming week in the City of Catania we celebrate Feste di Sant’Agata ……

Saint Agata was a young noblewoman who was born in 230AD to a secretly Christian family in Catania whilst Sicily was under Roman rule.

The roman governor of the city at the time Quintianus fell in love with Agata and ordered her to renounce her Christian faith. After being rejected by her, he entrusted a courtesan called Aphrodisias to befriend Agata in the hope that the prostitute who was addicted to orgies and other sinful activities could corrupt Agata’s spirit. 

 However, Agata stood firm on her beliefs, Quintianus then had her arrested.

It is said that Agata argued her defense passionately. 

 After several days of forced fasting and starvation Quintianus began to torture her. She was flogged and her breasts were cut off. 

However, it is said that her breasts grew back miraculously at night thanks to the intervention of Saint Peter. Her last torture was a bed of hot coals.

Some say that whilst Agata’s body was martyred by fire, her red veil, a symbol of her consecration to God, did not burn.

Agata died in prison due to her injuries on 5th February 251AD.

Her body was embalmed and then wrapped in the red veil. Legend says that the veil has stopped many lava flows from Mount Etna descending  to threaten Catania.

The Feste di Sant’Agata (Festival of Saint Agata) takes place between 3rd and 5th February.

The three day festival sees hundreds of thousands of people parading through the streets of Catania following a carriage containing the relics of Saint Agata.

There is also a procession of decorated candlesticks 6 metres high carried for hours at a time by locals representing different trades. By the end of the Feste the streets of Catania are very slippery from where the wax has dripped on the ground.

On the 5th February Saint Agata’s relics are carried back to the Duomo in Catania where they stay until the following year.

During the festival the balconies of Catania are adorned with banners and flags amongst food stalls and fireworks that thunder until dawn. There are also special services and concerts in Agata’s honour.

In the province of Catania there many girls that are named after Agata.


Because one of the tortures Saint Agata suffered was to have her breasts cut off, she was often depicted carrying her breasts on a plate.

This episode of her life is symbolized in pastries throughout Sicily shaped like breasts called Minni di Sant Agata (Saint Agata's breasts). These are small round pastries with a white icing and a candied cherry on top. 

The festival is truly a magnificent sight to behold.

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As Sicily's second largest city Catania is a most beautiful city to visit full of History, Baroque Architecture, Shopping, Street Markets, Culture and the most delicious Food all under the watchful eye of Mount Etna making the city a perfect stop on your visit to Sicily, a city break or weekend away.

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(Photo credit: Google Images)


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