Verbicaro
The town of Verbicaro DOC wine and hospitality
Food and wine
Verbicaro - Giuseppe Ciottariello
Verbicaro, in the province of Cosenza, is a perfect synthesis of sea-mountain proximity: its territory, in fact, is part of both the Pollino National Park and the ‘’Riviera dei Cedri‘’ Regional Marine Park. Unmissable for hikers are the numerous CAI Paths, immersed in the uncontaminated nature of the forest and the Abatemarco river valley, to discover the Canal' u Suard Refuge and the Cretaceous Geosites (400-65 million years ago) in the Malipurtusi, Sgretola and Schiena dello Zigrino localities.
Known as the ‘’Land of Wine and Hospitality‘’, Verbicaro is the producer of one of the excellences of Calabrian agri-food: Verbicaro DOC wine. Not only ‘’Wine City‘’ in Calabria! Verbicaro is also an important destination for folklore and popular devotion, famous for the evocative Easter rite of the ‘’Vattienti of Verbicaro‘’, the traditional procession of flagellants.
A town of mediaeval origins, according to legend Verbicaro welcomed a group of Basilian monks who settled on the slopes of the rocky spur on which the town stands, founding the Monastery of the Three Children (‘’Boni Enfantes‘’), from which the local place name ‘’Bonifanti‘’ is said to have originated. According to another hypothesis, the ancient toponym might instead refer to the ‘good infantrymen’, i.e. the valiant inhabitants of Verbicaro who, as good soldiers, knew how to defend themselves against Saracen attacks. In any case, the site of Bonifanti testifies to its older origin by preserving some Byzantine frescoes in the Church of Santa Maria ad Nives (11th century). Not to be missed, in the main square of the town, is a visit to the Mother Church of the Assunta, of 16th-century origin and rich in works of art, including two wooden organs and a collection of sacred vestments in the sacristy.
Folklore and spirituality come together during the rites of Holy Week, which in Verbicaro culminate with the evocative procession of the ‘’Vattienti of Verbicaro‘’: a rite dating back to 1751, when, on the night between Thursday and Friday, men dressed in red beat their legs with the ‘’cardiddo‘’, a cork with glass splinters, to simulate the Stations of the Cross and the Passion of Christ. Another particular tradition is the ‘’Fiaccolata dei Zigni‘’, wooden trunks carried on the shoulders in honour of Verbicaro's patron saint, the Madonna delle Grazie, which is celebrated in early July.
The festivities are the best opportunity to discover the food and wine traditions of Verbicaro, which not only produces the renowned Verbicaro DOC wine, the secrets of which are recounted by the route of the Ecomuseum of Wine and Peasant Life (in the former prison building), but also offers many typical local products and dishes: above all, panacièddhi (or panicèlli), made with PDO Calabria Cedar leaves filled with raisin Zibibbo grapes, flavoured with citron peel. During the festivities, some of Verbicaro's traditional handicrafts are also on display, such as the renowned baskets, the fruit of an ancient and familiar art.
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