The XXI edition of Sicilia en Primeur is underway

Also this year, the appointment with Sicilia en Primeur is back, the wine festival organized by Assovini Sicilia that every year attracts journalists from all over the world to the island. From May 6 to 10 , a delegation of 100 journalists from Italy, Europe (France, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Norway) and beyond (Canada, USA, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Brazil, United Kingdom) will explore Sicily to discover the richness of its food and wine heritage but also its culture. It is no coincidence that the claim of the event, now in its 21st edition, is “ The Culture of Wine in Sicily: a thousand-year history that looks to the future” , a slogan that sums up the message that Assovini wants to launch this year. “Wine – explains Mariangela Cambria, president of Assovini Sicilia – in addition to being an agricultural or commercial product, is an essential element of universal culture that spans centuries and civilizations. The culture of wine today also translates into a culture of travel. A journey that starts from the vineyard, from working the land, goes through an annual cycle, arrives at the glass, at the bottle, on tables all over the world. Sicilia en primeur will tell journalists part of this journey”. Like every year, journalists will be involved in 11 press tours that will explore every corner of Sicily, from Etna to Pantelleria, from Marsala to Agrigento, from Monreale to Lipari, to then meet in Modica where the choral moment of the event will take place on 9 and 10 May. “I thank the municipal administration of Modica for their hospitality and for having seized this opportunity”, underlines Cambria. “Sicilia en Primeur will in fact be a showcase for this splendid baroque city that journalists will have the opportunity to get to know, visit and talk about in their articles. Thanks also go to the Enoteca regionale Sud-Est and to the Ats Strade del Vino Cerasuolo di Vittoria, for the synergy and collaboration and for sharing the resources of the territory and the wine production of the South-East area. We therefore start on May 9 at 9 with the technical tasting at the Castello dei Conti di Modica and with four talks on current topics, including the tools for communicating wine to the new generations, an in-depth analysis of the new State labels to protect Made in Italy, neuromarketing and consumer psychology, and a talk on the numbers of Assovini Sicilia. At 5:30 pm, appointment at the Teatro Garibaldi in Modica with the conference on the culture of wine understood as informed and conscious drinking, as promotion of the territory through wine tourism, as protection of the environment through increasingly sustainable good practices. Speakers include Master of Wine Andrea Lonardi who will speak about the “S Factor: the uniqueness of the Sicilian wine continent”, followed by a speech by Dario Stefàno, president of the Wine and Oil Tourism Centre (Lumsa University), and Antonello Maruotti, professor of Statistics (Lumsa University) on “The South that innovates between events, e-commerce and new models of hospitality for wine tourism”. Sara Farnetti , specialist in Internal Medicine and in Pathophysiology of Metabolism and Nutrition, will turn the spotlight on “Wine culture: for informed and conscious consumption”. Finally, Alessio Planeta , president of the SOStain Sicilia Foundation , will speak about “The sustainable future of Sicilian wine”. The conference will be moderated by Luciano Ferraro, deputy director of Corriere della Sera . The day of the 9th will end with the gala dinner organized in collaboration with La Sicilia di Ulisse, an association that brings together Sicilian excellence in the hospitality, gastronomy and viticulture sectors. The menu will be curated by chefs Accursio Craparo of Radici, Vincenzo Candiano of Locanda Don Serafino (1 Michelin star), Giuseppe Causarano and Antonio Colombo of Votavota (1 Michelin star) and Giuseppe Torrisi of Cortile Santo Spirito (1 Michelin star). Finally, the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto of Modica will propose two specialties of its own production, namely Sicilian cassata and chocolate. “This year, Sicily has been named the European gastronomic region 2025,” says Cambria. “To underline the happy partnership between food and wine at Sicilia en Primeur, the chefs of Sicilia di Ulisse will share their culinary art in the final dinner dedicated to the producers.” The event will end on Saturday 10 May , again at the Castello dei Conti, with tastings of wines from the 57 Assovini Sicilia member producers who will present their labels to journalists. Subsequently, a delegation of national and foreign journalists will take part in the event organised in collaboration with the Enoteca regionale Sud-Est and the Ats Strade del Vino Cerasuolo di Vittoria. “I would like to thank the Istituto Commercio Estero and our sponsors, without whom this great event, which has been shining a spotlight on Sicily for over 20 years, attracting the national and international food and wine press, would not be possible”, concludes Mariangela Cambria. “Sicilia en Primeur is a highly anticipated event that has contributed significantly to consolidating the image of a Sicilian wine-growing continent dedicated to excellence”.