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San Sebastiano dei Marsi (AQ): Festa delle Panette

19 January @ 08:30 CET

People carry decorated tables on their heads during a cultural festival in Abruzzo, against snowy mountains and leafless trees.

 

Festa delle Panette in San Sebastiano dei Marsi: red-draped winter processions, ritual bread, bonfires and devotion to Saint Sebastian

A deeply rooted winter tradition, the Feast of Saint Sebastian combines faith, ritual bread-making, processions, and fire. Passed down through generations, this celebration centres on the panette, small blessed loaves believed to protect homes, crops, and health.

What are the Panette?

Prepared days in advance by a devout family who volunteers each year, the panette are ritual loaves made of eight small balls of dough, each marked with the initials of Saint Sebastian the Martyr. Once blessed, they are kept at home and not eaten immediately; they are traditionally used for healing or protection during storms that threaten the fields.

 Programme Highlights

19 January

Morning procession: Unmarried girls dressed in red carry baskets of panette covered with red cloth to the church of Saint Sebastian outside the village.

Meeting of processions: Along the route, they join the procession carrying the saint’s statue.

Blessing & distribution: During Mass, the panette are blessed and shared with the faithful.

Evening gathering: The procession returns to the hosting family’s home, where a large bonfire is lit. Sweets and wine are offered, and panette distribution continues.

20 January

Solemn Mass

Final procession of the saint

Last distribution of the blessed bread, marking the close of the festivities

Why it matters

This is not a staged festival, but a living community ritual—where bread, fire, and faith intertwine with Abruzzo’s agricultural rhythms and collective memory.

Planning your visit
Dates are fixed annually (19–20 January), but timings and details can vary by village. Check local parish notices or municipal updates closer to the event.

Details

We will do our best to keep this calendar up to date, however in the case of last-minute cancellations due to adverse weather conditions, Covid outbreaks and so forth this may not always be possible.  In these cases, you should contact the event organiser for a refund as we are not responsible for the events on the calendar, only compiling them into an easy list.  As soon as we have news from an organiser when any event will be rescheduled we will update the calendar accordingly.

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