La Panarda - a community feast with a history from the 17th century - is not just a meal lasting all night, but also the way the people here preserve traditional cultural customs.
In Italy, where cuisine is part of the national identity, eating rituals often end with the New Year holiday. When the Panettone cakes are gone, the tortellini dish is no longer on the table, and the lentils - the lucky dish of the new year - only have leftovers. But in Villavallelonga, a small village of only about 900 inhabitants in the Abruzzo National Park, Lazio e Molise of Central - Southern Italy, the big party has just begun.
On January 16th every year, when many regions have returned to their daily routine, the whole small village starts preparing a party lasting many hours, with up to 50 dishes, prepared by the people themselves to treat each other. That party is called La Panarda.
In Italy, we deeply feel the importance of cuisine. And this is probably the most typical example of the value that cuisine brings to Italians," said photographer Marco Zorzanello, who witnessed and participated in the La Panarda party at Villavallelonga in 2025.
The party of oaths and memories
La Panarda is not a restaurant, nor does it have a fixed menu. It is a community ritual. About 80 families in the village prepare for many days to ensure that everyone is fed, and more importantly, sits at the same table.
The party usually starts around 8 pm with about 10 appetizers, then soup, noodles, meat and vegetable dishes. When the clock strikes early morning, many people wander home. Others almost do not sleep, return to the kitchen to prepare favata - a traditional fava bean soup for the next morning.
The origin of La Panarda is closely linked to religion and agricultural life. The festival is held to honor Saint Anthony Abbot - the animal saint, who plays a particularly important role in communities living on animal husbandry.
It is an agricultural society, and animals are a means of survival" - Ms. Maria Cesidia Giancursio, a villager, shared, adding that: "Animals give people milk, meat and labor. Protecting them is vital.
Local history records the first La Panarda feast in Villavallelonga village taking place in 1657, although mayor Leonardo Lippa believed that this tradition was even older. Villagers passed on two stories considered "miracles" of Saint Anthony.
According to the first legend, a landowner named Serafini was once possessed by demons. When Saint Anthony stood up to help drive them away, the Serafini family vowed to treat half of the villagers to thank them. The second story tells about Saint Anthony rescuing a wolf-catched child, causing the Bianchi family to vow to cook fava bean soup for the whole village.
This tradition is deeply ingrained in our lives. I have witnessed it since I was born" - Mayor Lippa said. He said that some descendants and grandchildren of Villavallelonga villagers living far away also return to attend this event every year.
Preserving community culture
La Panarda is not an isolated case. In the Abruzzo region and many rural areas of central and southern Italy, "Panarda" used to be the common name for community parties, usually taking place in the summer. But the small village of Villavallelonga is one of the few places that still retains this ritual intact in the middle of winter.
According to Luca Cesari, an Italian culinary historian, such parties were initially charitable: "They appeared in poor towns where pilgrims needed to be welcomed. By cooking and inviting guests, the community fulfilled basic moral obligations: Feeding, sheltering, caring for others according to the teachings of the Bible.
Cesari believes that modern society has lost some of that spirit. "Today we pay taxes and assign that responsibility to the State. But in traditional society, this responsibility belongs to each family, each person.
In Villavallelonga village, the festival lasts for many days. From January 11, children parade to sing traditional songs; adults dress up as "demons" - a winter custom from pre-Christian times. Families bring fava beans, bread, and frascarelli noodles to each household. After the main night of the festival, the descendants of the Bianchi family continue to distribute favata bean stew to every household in the village.
Traditional belief
While many traditional customs are fading away, La Panarda still exists partly thanks to the remote location of Villavallelonga village - located deep in the National Park, where forests surround and brown bears from Marsican are living.
But there is another reason, more spiritual. "There is a fear that if we don't do so, Saint Anthony will punish us" - Ms. Giancursio said. She told oral stories about people who neglected rituals, then encountered minor accidents such as hat fires or cars smoking - details associated with the flame symbol of Saint Anthony Abbot.
Mrs. Giancursio's family has preserved the "Panarda bakery" for many generations. Every year, from 6 am on January 16, she starts cooking for about 15 guests. Before that, for a whole week she cleans the house, hangs photos of Saint Anthony, and arranges wreaths from dried figs, oranges, apples and fava beans - signs that Panarda has arrived.
There are not too many dishes. But the portions must be really sumptuous. It's like a wish for abundance in the future" - Ms. Giancursio said.
Mayor Lippa affirmed that even if it is a private party in each family, there is always room for strangers. "There is always a empty chair," he said.
With Cretarola, a descendant of an Abruzzo family currently living in the US, what remains is not the dishes at the party table, but the spirit of sharing: "No one makes money from here. Just taking care of each other. It sounds simple, but perhaps we need that more than ever.
It's a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit.
It's a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit.
