A Love Letter To Abruzzo: 8-Hour, 40-Course Meal Returns To Philly Italian Restaurant

PHILADELPHIA — South Philadelphia restaurant Le Virtù will bring back La Panarda, reviving an 8-hour, 40-course Abruzzese feast that the restaurant says is the only authentic representation of the tradition in the United States.

The event will run from 12-8 p.m. June 14 at 1927 E. Passyunk Ave. Tickets are $550 per person, excluding tax and gratuity, and include more than 10 wine pairings curated by house sommelier Chris O'Brien.

The meal is rooted in a tradition from Villavallelonga, a village in Abruzzo's Marsica territory that has celebrated Panarda every January since 1657. The annual observance honors Sant'Antonio Abate, the patron saint of animals, grains and agriculture.

In Villavallelonga, La Panarda spans 35 to 50 courses served over a single night and ends the following morning with the distribution of fava soup and egg bread throughout the village.

At Le Virtù, Executive Chef Andrew Wood will prepare at least 40 dishes served family-style over the course of the day. The menu is expected to unfold in two parts, with a seafood-forward first half and a meat-focused second half.

Early confirmed dishes include Brodetto alla Vastese, stuffed calamari with tomatoes and ceci, frascareglie pasta with ragù, Maccarune i Sant'Antonie, timballo alla teramana, roasted whole suckling pig from Green Meadow Farm, grilled whole local lamb and aged roasted ribeye with Montepulciano sauce.

“La Panarda is a love letter to both of our homes, Abruzzo and South Philadelphia,” co-owner Francis Cratil-Cretarola said in a statement. "Since our first Panarda in 2011, we’ve tried to authentically honor the spirit of Villavallelonga, and the reactions from our guests, their being open to the experience, have made it the most rewarding thing we do.”

Tickets are available online.