The almond trees are in bloom, that means there must be a festival in Agrigento, complete with a parade. Make that two parades, one on Saturday featuring traditional marching bands and folk musicians and dancers; and one on Sunday, featuring the wonderful Sicilian Carretti, or horse-drawn carts.
The parade each day began near our B&B at piazza Pirandello and traveled along via Atenea to piazza Cavour at the east end of the old town.
Here is a link to a video of one of the bands warming up in piazza Pirandello.....if the link is not visible, hover your cursor in the space below and it should appear.....
https://youtu.be/6gLaqfCBH9k
Parades are funny here in Sicily... not only are the streets very narrow, but the spectators don't stand in one place to watch, they move along with the parade, and sometimes even move in the opposite direction of the parade. Here are some photos.....
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| The winning folk group from Licata |
Here is a link to a video of a traditional Sicilian folk group in the parade. The flute-like instrument is a friscalettu. If the link is not visible, hover your cursor in the link below and it should appear.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaN1gBbDRmA
Now we get to Sunday and the Sicilian carts in parade. Actually, most of the musical groups that were in the Saturday parade were in Sunday's parade also. There were many carts, each one more decorated than the one before. There was even a special policeman for the "zoo parade". The miniature cart with a baby pulled by the miniature horse was adorable. Here are some photos.....
Here is a photo of a strange man with one of the horse-drawn carts.....
Here is a link to a video of a few of the carts. If the link is not visible, hover your cursor in the space below and it should appear.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHjksb0u5vY
The parades and shows afterwards were an absolute joy. Yes, the almond blossom has real flower power in these parts!
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