Feast of Saint Joseph and Tavolata

The tavolata: a practice of charity

The Feast of Saint Joseph on 19 March is one of the most distinctive and least-known Sicilian traditions. In its popular form, the day revolves around an ancient practice: the table of the poor.

Nicosian families who had made a vow to Saint Joseph — for instance, to obtain a grace or to give thanks for a healing — would lay a table with a variable number of courses in their home (typically 19, like the saint’s date, or sometimes 3, 7 or 13) and open the house to those in need: the poor, travellers, neighbours.

It was a practice of religious charity that held together:

• the cult of the saint (Saint Joseph as the putative father of Jesus, model of the poor family);
• the sharing of food (a sacred act, not just social);
• the transmission of recipes of poor-people’s cuisine (pasta with bread-crumb, chickpeas, wild fennel, almonds).

The courses of the tavolata

The traditional tavolata offers simple, vegetarian dishes (Saint Joseph falls in Lent):

• Pasta with breadcrumb (pasta with toasted bread-crumb, anchovy, olive oil);
• Pasta with chickpeas;
• Pasta with wild fennel;
• Sarde a beccafico (in some versions);
• Stewed vegetables (cardoons, fennel, cabbage);
• Seasonal fruit (oranges);
• Bread of Saint Joseph (rosette shape with a cross in the middle);
• Sfincie of Saint Joseph (soft-batter fritters with ricotta and candied fruit);
• Local wine.

The sfincie

Sfincie are the traditional sweet of 19 March in Nicosia. Prepared at home or bought from a historic pastry shop:

• soft fried batter;
• filling of sweetened ricotta (sheep, local);
• decoration with candied fruit, pistachio crumbs, candied orange zest.

In Nicosia the historic pastry shop in the centre prepares sfincie from ~24 hours before 19 March. Orders recommended by 15 March.

The revival

For decades the tavolata tradition had become invisible, limited to a few elderly homes. Since 2025 the Municipality and the parishes have begun reviving it in public form:

• a tavolata in Piazza Garibaldi organised by volunteers, open to whoever shows up;
• some private homes that open up to share the practice with citizens and visitors.

The goal is not to let die a tradition that is at once religious, social and gastronomic.

Visiting

• Public tavolata: free, 12:30-15:00 in Piazza Garibaldi. Booking recommended for groups of more than 6.
• Domestic tavolatas: by booking through the Tourism Office. Limited numbers (~50 people per home).
• Sfincie: orders at the historic central pastry shop by 15 March.

The feast is open and free. The spirit is not tourist-oriented: it is sharing. Visitors are welcome to bring, if they wish, a small contribution (a sweet, a loaf, some wine) to add to the table.