It is the biggest party in Italy, the third of Christendom in the world. We are talking about Agatha and of the festivities in honor of the Patron of Catania. A unique event that is repeated every year from 3 to 5 February and mix together devotion, folklore and tradition. One million people will follow the reliquary bust through the streets of the city of Etna for 40 hours of procession. Among candles, flowers and prayers the citizens profess, loudly, all devotees. To cheer these cold winter days, close to the holidays in honor of the Saint, the people of Catania are used to consume imaginative and colorful desserts: Minnuzze of Sant'Agata, cassatine with an unmistakable hemispherical shape, and the Olivette (in Sicilian alivetti or aliveddi of sant'Àjita), a soft dough of almond paste, flavored with liqueur and aromas that, traditionally, are consumed in the first days of February.

The legend

The former allude to the severed breasts during the torture inflicted by Quinziano on the Christian martyr, whom he had fallen in love with. The olivettes are instead connected to another episode of the life of the saint: according to a legend, while being brought to trial by the cruel proconsul of Catania, she stopped to tie a sandal and as soon as the foot touched the ground an olive tree began to grow with its fruits. The citizens after his martyrdom took the habit of collecting the olives produced by the tree to store or donate them. According to another version, however, Agata would have stumbled upon a sterile olive tree, which at her touch would have prodigiously begun producing olives. There are many legends in this regard, a fact is still certain: both minne be them olivette they are foods linked to the ancestral rites of fertility, awakening and the regeneration of nature, especially in February, when in Sicily the almond blossoming leaves already presage the arrival of spring.

The ancient recipe

Not everyone knows that until the eighteenth century the popular devotion towards St. Agatha was also widespread in the Sicilian capital, before the cult of Santa Rosalia took over. At the monastery of Santa Caterina di Palermo, for example, the olive groves were prepared by the Dominican nuns for some retired students. After years of research, Maria Oliveri, passionate about history and anthropology, has recovered and cataloged the ancient conventual recipes (including that of the olive groves) in the volume The secrets of the cloister.

The Olivette of Sant'Agata

This is the original recipe of the monastery of Santa Caterina recovered from Maria Oliveri.

Ingredients for 20 olivettes

– 150 g peeled almonds
– 150 g of granulated sugar
– 1 tablespoon of rum or witch liquor
– the tip of a teaspoon of green food coloring powder

Method

Pour the sugar into a saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil over low heat. As soon as the sugar rolls, turn off the stove and pour the chopped almond. Stir vigorously and add the dye. Continue to mix until the green spreads evenly. Add the rum, always stirring. Allow the mixture to cool on the table. Work it with your hands and make 20 balls, trying to get a slightly elongated shape. Roll the olives in a saucer with a little sugar.

The pastry shops in Sicily where you can find the Olivette di sant'Agata

Catania
• Prestipino Bar – Piazza Duomo 9
• The Dolci di Nonna Vincenza – Via Gabriele D'Annunzio 216/218
• Pasticceria Quaranta – Piazza Mancini Battaglia 17/20
• Pasticceria Verona & Bonvegna – Via Asiago 60
• Pasticceria Savia – Via Etnea 302/304
• Pasticceria Spinella – Via Etnea 292/298
• Pasticceria Truglio – Via Giaconia 11

Syracuse
• Monzù Ortigia – Piazza Minerva 6

Palermo
• Dolceria of the Monastery of Santa Caterina – Piazza Bellini