Sicily has 9 new entries in the register of intangible assets

The evaluation of the requests for recognition and registration of the intangible heritage of Sicily has started again for the purpose of inclusion in the Reis, the Register of intangible inheritances of Sicily. The resumption of work was determined by the appointment of the new Evaluation Commission, set up by the councilor for cultural heritage and Sicilian identity, Alberto Samonà. Intangible heritages are defined by Unesco as “Intangible Cultural Heritage”.

“The intangible heritage – explains Samonà – is characterized by a great vulnerability that today, in the relationship with the mass media, lives a complex relationship: on the one hand the risk of expressive conformation and cultural globalization, on the other it sees in the new media a dissemination tool that allows the possibility of enhancing the knowledge of realities otherwise destined for oblivion ».

The Register is made up of six different books: Celebrations, feasts and ritual practices; Trades, knowledge and techniques; Dialects, speeches and jargons; Expressive practices and oral repertoires; Living human treasures; Symbolic spaces.

In the meeting of 12 May, 9 applications for registration were approved, which recognized the following activities as intangible assets: The Art of the Sicilian cart (request formulated by the Regional Museum of Palazzo d’Aumale); Antonio Rigoli, Stonemason of Ucria; Letterio Alessandro, known as Lillo Alessandro, poet and writer from Messina, who is recognized as a living human treasure for the recovery and transcription of the Sicilian ethnomusicological heritage; “Borgo Pantano”, an ancient Jewish settlement in the municipality of Rometta (Messina); the “Cuddrireddra” of Delia, an ancient tradition of pastry of Islamic origin; the embroiderer “Maria Anna Bonaffini” from Caltanissetta, to safeguard the art of bobbin lace and macramé; Feast of San Calogero / Festival of the puppets of the bread of Campofranco (Caltanissetta); Patronal Feast of the Most Holy Savior »of Militello Val di Cataniai, which takes place on 18 August; Carpets of ephemeral art, of flowers, salt, sands and other natural elements, in Noto (Syracuse).

“As director of the Center for the inventory, cataloging and documentation of the Region – says Laura Cappugi – I thank the commissioner Samonà for having given new impetus to the implementation of the Catalog of expressions of immaterial culture, established in 2005 and of which the Center oversaw the coordination and promotion and publication on the web ».