To trace the history of this event, we must start from the distant 1978, when a group of friends decided to renew the Pro Loco by launching the idea of creating a summer festival in the village. The project also stemmed from the desire to characterize Quero, as was already happening in all the villages in the valley, with an event that would attract local tourism and provide a way for the local people to have fun and socialize. It did not immediately start as the Sagra dei S’cioss. The summer festival in 1978 was held on Monte Cornella, in the area of Casette Rosse, on August 15th. The narrow road leading from via Bastiglia to the destination became that year a hub for an immense crowd of food lovers who came to the village specifically to participate in the event. That year is still remembered for the incident that occurred with the red van borrowed by the Pro Loco, which, due to going up the steep road, overheated and had to regrettably abandon the festival to go to the wrecking yard.
The Pro Loco realized that, although the location in Casette Rosse was very picturesque for the festival, it was too small to accommodate the thousands of people arriving. Therefore, later, in the last weekend of August, the event moved to the sports field square, kindly granted by the parish. The solution was excellent, as the event attracted many people.
The traditional S'Cios festival
To trace the history of this event, we must start from the distant 1978, when a group of friends decided to renew the Pro Loco by launching the idea of creating a summer festival in the village. The project also stemmed from the desire to characterize Quero, as was already happening in all the villages in the valley, with an event that would attract local tourism and provide a way for the local people to have fun and socialize. It did not immediately start as the Sagra dei S’cioss. The summer festival in 1978 was held on Monte Cornella, in the area of Casette Rosse, on August 15th. The narrow road leading from via Bastiglia to the destination became that year a hub for an immense crowd of food lovers who came to the village specifically to participate in the event. That year is still remembered for the incident that occurred with the red van borrowed by the Pro Loco, which, due to going up the steep road, overheated and had to regrettably abandon the festival to go to the wrecking yard.
The Pro Loco realized that, although the location in Casette Rosse was very picturesque for the festival, it was too small to accommodate the thousands of people arriving. Therefore, later, in the last weekend of August, the event moved to the sports field square, kindly granted by the parish. The solution was excellent, as the event attracted many people.
The summer appointment with the festival continued until 1981, when it was decided to move the festival to July because all the summer events in the Basso Feltrino were organized in August. The Querese festival in July was named Festa Pesana. From the Pro Loco minutes of 1981, it is noted that that year there were two summer festivals: from July 18 to 26, the Festa Paesana took place, while from August 15 to 23, the Estate Querese was organized.
The Pro Loco's desire was to give a name to the July festival that would distinguish it from other summer events, and so, at the Pro Loco members meeting on June 25, 1981, a council member proposed to name the July “Festa Paesana” as a particular festival, and the council, after a brief discussion, proposed to give the festival a different image both gastronomically and in the choice of period. It was thought to characterize the event with a typical dish of the area: some thought of trout, others of mushrooms, and others still of chestnuts, until the happy choice fell on the snail: the ancient poor man's dish. From that year, it was baptized Sagra dei S’cioss (in the local dialect, "snail" is called s’cioss). Thus, the 1980s were characterized by two summer events: in July, the Sagra dei S’cioss, and at Ferragosto, the Estate Querese.
Both were held under a Tent Theater of 250 sqm. The rent cost approximately six hundred thousand lire.
We must remember that the Pro Loco, which started in the distant 1978 without any equipment, gradually increased the necessary tools until in April 1989, it purchased a container for culinary use, to be placed every year inside the festival's marquee in order to make the kitchen service more effective and organized. In those years, the Pro Loco organized meetings on snail farming, exhibitions, and market displays until participating in the national snail farming exhibition held in Cherasco, Piedmont, in September 1990. The visit to this important event served to deepen the study of this new economic perspective to strengthen friendships with experts in the field. The Sagra dei S’cioss gained recognition year after year, attracting people from Veneto and neighboring regions; the newspapers talked about it, and even television did.
