Among the dates which are most deeply felt by Sorrento people, the Holy Week in Sorrento and in the whole Coast is rich in ancient rites and thousand-year usages which are re-proposed and much enhanced still today. On Palm Sunday in Sorrento, besides its traditional olive-tree twigs, there is the habit to bless also characteristic palms, made by hand with coloured sugared almonds, linked to a suggestive legend.

It is told, in fact, that during an attack to the coast of Sorrento by the Saracens, the inhabitants of Sorrento took shelter in the Cathedral. They prayed long for the town to be saved by the pirates’ attack: the ships were wrecked and the pirates died in the waters close to Sorrento. The only survivor was a young lady, a slave, who swam to Sorrento and, after reaching the Cathedral too, was welcomed and taken care of. The young lady, in order to thank the population, gave them the only thing she had: some coloured sugared almonds. According to the myth, this happened during Palm Sunday and since then, every year in Sorrento, palms have been made with coloured sugared almonds to be blessed together with olive-tree twigs.

The making of sugared-almond palms has become, in the course of centuries, a real art typical of Sorrento Coast. The craftsmanlike processing is meticulous and includes the making of flowers whose multi-coloured petals are made with sugared almonds which are threaded into metal sticks covered with tissue paper and decorated with any kind of  lace and braid.