Cuccìa

Traditional Agri-food Product, on the national list of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture

Cuccìa (Sicilian pronunciation: [kʊtˈtʃiːa]) is a primarily Sicilian dish containing boiled wheatberries and sugar, which is eaten on December 13, the feast day of Saint Lucy, the patron saint of Syracuse. The dish is consumed in Sicily and in isolated pockets of southern Italy, as well as their communities abroad. It commemorates the relief from a food shortage in Sicily and the unexpected arrival of a cargo of wheat, which tradition says arrived in the port of Palermo on Saint Lucy's Feast in 1646. According to custom, bread should not be eaten on December 13; cuccìa should be the only source of wheat, and the primary source of nourishment for the day.

No. 158 on the Sicilian list of Traditional Agri-food Products

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Sources: eAmbrosia, the EU register of geographical indications (names, type, registration dates); the national list of Traditional Agri-food Products of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, 11 March 2025 revision; Slow Food Foundation, Presidia in Sicily; texts and pictures from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Updated September 12, 2026.