The Cherry Festival

Cherries are among the tastiest fruits that bring so much joy to us all, perhaps because we used to wear them as earrings when we were kids! Palombara is the land of the cherries and the place where the “Sagra delle Cerase” is held. It is the oldest festival in Europe dedicated to this fruit! The so-called “Cerasare”, women dressed up with traditional clothing, parade through the streets of Palombara. Some of these costumes date back to the early 1800s! During the festival, each neighborhood is decorated with the colors of its team participating in the parade of floats! They are allegorical floats adorned by the locals with wild flowers, white and yellow daisies, thistles, and cherries during the two nights before the Sagra! This is one of the few festivals that truly reflects the identity of the area! The event takes place for several days in the first two weeks of June. Can you imagine hills covered with cherry blossoms and delicate scents?

There are few women left in Palombara that carry on the memory of the Cerasara costume! During a contest at the Festival, the dress that best suits the original style is rewarded. The clothing could change depending on the occasion in which it was worn. Simple for work in the fields, elegant for Sundays, charming and precious for weddings! Women from Palombara proudly parade in their traditional costume worn from generation to generation. Those who have no family dress have been able to create a new one from scratch and never miss a chance to wear it with just as much pride as the others do! The sight of women strolling in traditional dress through the alleys of Palombara harks back to a time that is now long gone. And yet, we need to keep the memory alive!