When tonight the cart of Santa Rosalia will leave from Palazzo Reale and take the Cassaro, Palermo will already be a different city. The Cassaro is the current corso Vittorio Emanuele, the street that crosses the historic center, intersects via Maqueda at Quattro Canti and continues towards Porta Felice and the Foro Italico. Closed streets, crowded balconies, stalls, bars working nonstop and the smell of street food will accompany the procession: panelle and crocchè, sfincione, spleen sandwich, stigghiole, drinks and sweets.
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July 14 is not only the night of devotion to Santa Rosalia. It is also the moment when Palermo concentrates in a few hours a mass of consumption involving catering, commerce, transport and services.
For the 402nd Festino, about 400 thousand people are expected, compared to over 350 thousand in the previous edition. Fifty thousand more attendees that can be worth between half a million and 750 thousand euros of additional consumption. There is not yet an official study on the economic impact of the event, but a cautious estimate allows placing the direct expenditure activated on the night of the Festino alone between 4 and 6 million euros.
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The calculation starts from an average expenditure between 10 and 15 euros per participant. There are those who buy nothing, those who limit themselves to a drink or a piece of sfincione and those who add a dinner, parking or taxi. With an average of 12.50 euros per person, the business volume of the evening reaches about 5 million. It is not a measure of the produced GDP, but an order of magnitude of the money that can circulate in the city.
«The city is experiencing a moment of great media exposure,» says mayor Roberto Lagalla: «Its Festino, which we have relaunched as an identity brand and not just as a devotional festival, projects it increasingly into the orbit of major events that attract tourism in search of authentic experiences.» The last two editions have received awards at BEA World and BEA Italia. «The BEA awards have recognized the importance of the event,» adds Lagalla.
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