Description

No written records have ever been found to clearly explain the origins of this ancient polenta festival, whose roots are lost in time and deeply tied to the life of the village. The celebration was born many years ago as a simple “home” gathering, held in the largest and most welcoming room of all: the town square. It was the desire to be together that inspired this event , sharing a meal of polenta, cooked over an improvised fire. In those early days, the polenta was “sorda,” meaning plain and unseasoned, and any leftovers were toasted over the fireplace, picking up the scent of smoke and a dusting of ash. All this was already happening around the mid-1800s. Over time, the custom became less regular, until the early 1900s, when Alessio Morini, known as Lezi, a local carter, together with a group of friends, decided to revive the tradition. On the first day of Lent, a long communal table was set up in the square, where polenta was cooked and served with sausages. In the following years, a real Polenta Committee was formed, which officially established the Polenta Festival to be held on the first Sunday of Lent. During the 1960s, the Pro Loco of San Costanzo relaunched the event, giving it new life as a tourist attraction and adding a summer edition at the end of July. Even today, the polenta of San Costanzo is prepared in the traditional way: the cornmeal is poured into large copper cauldrons, the caldare, set over wood fires in the fornacelle. The polentari , the polenta makers, stir it for an hour using a long wooden stick with two handles, until perfectly cooked. Then it is spread out onto wooden boards, called panare, and dressed with a rich meat sauce , whose recipe remains a closely guarded secret , and a generous sprinkling of grated cheese.

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