Cuccìa is a traditional, primarily Sicilian dish containing boiled wheatberries and sugar, which is eaten on December 13, the feast day of Saint Lucy, the patron saint of Siracusa (Syracuse).
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Sicily was temporarily dominated by Arabic peoples (Emirate of Sicily), who influenced many foods iconic to Sicilian cuisine.
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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.
Mussolini’s drive against the Mafia, the story goes, followed an official visit to Sicily in May 1924 during which he felt insulted by the Mafioso Francesco Cuccia, who publicly proclaimed that Mussolini did not need a police escort because the mere presence of Cuccia would protect him.
Cuccia has also been mentioned as one of the mafiosi behind the Portella della Ginestra massacre during a Labour Day manifestation on May 1, 1947, when 11 people were killed and 33 wounded by the bandit Salvatore Giuliano.