1504: the Apparition and the Archangel

Everything begins with the Feast of the Apparition of the Madonna of Tirano, celebrated every year on 29 September. According to tradition, that morning in 1504, a man named Mario Omodei was on his way to his plot of land. A more elaborate version of the story says he was heading out to pick figs.

It was there, as passed down in religious memory, that the Virgin’s Apparition took place—accompanied, the tradition adds, by the Archangel Michael as well. It’s no coincidence that 29 September also falls on the feast of the four archangels.

Even today, a statue of San Michele—dating back to 1589—rules over the top of the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Tirano, sword and shield in hand. The statue is mounted so it can turn with the wind, functioning as a weather vane too: local popular tradition has it that when San Michele faces towards Switzerland, good weather is on its way.

A sweet divided into wedges, with just one hidden fig

This story gives rise to the Scudo di San Michele: a sweet, leavened bread, soft and enriched on the surface with sugar. It’s divided into several wedges, and in only one of them—hidden inside the dough—is a dried fig.

The link isn’t random: it points straight back to those figs which, according to the folk tale, Mario was going to pick that morning of the Apparition.

Whoever finds the fig in their portion, according to tradition, will have San Michele’s protection throughout the year. It’s a small collective ritual: the sweet is shared without knowing in advance who will get the one with the fig.

A tradition born twenty years ago

And here’s the bit that’s most surprising: the Scudo di San Michele hasn’t existed since 1504. The idea was born in 2005, through the efforts of Pietro Maletti, a resident of Madonna di Tirano, developed together with local bakers-patisserists. The aim was to create a product that would tie the religious festival to the city’s food culture. Already in 2006, the initiative was documented publicly, with the explicit intention of turning it into a new tradition.

Twenty years on, they made it happen: in 2026, the Scudo di San Michele received the Denominazione Comunale di Origine (De.Co.), becoming the first Tirano product to earn this recognition. A De.Co. isn’t the same as a DOP or an IGP: it’s a municipal label that certifies a product’s territorial identity, but the meaning is still strong. In just two decades, an idea has become a recognised piece of the city’s heritage.

When to find the Scudo di San Michele

The Scudo di San Michele isn’t available all year round. It’s made exclusively from 1 September to 15 October, during the period that includes the Feast of the Apparition and the San Michele Fair. A product that, quite literally, returns alongside the very occasion that inspired it.

Al Prestinè: for 35 years in Tirano, between bread, bisciola and pastry

You can find Lo Scudo di San Michele at Panificio Pasticceria Al Prestinè, at Piazza della Basilica 38 in Tirano, just a stone’s throw from the Sanctuary that houses the statue of the Archangel.

Since 1989, Al Prestinè has been a go-to place for anyone looking for bread and sweets made the way they used to be. Running the show are Maria and Remo, together with their son Giuseppe and Gabriella: friendliness, being ready to help, and a shop that’s always well stocked are their calling cards.

Here you’ll find different types of bread, pastries, pizzas and mini-pizzas, biscuits of every kind, and some of the desserts closely tied to Valtellina tradition: bisciola, walnut cake, buckwheat cake. And, for a limited time every year, Lo Scudo di San Michele.

If you want to try your luck and go looking for the hidden fig, remember: it’s available only from 1 September to 15 October.

📍 Piazza della Basilica 38, Tirano
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We tell the story in video too

Lo Scudo di San Michele features in the 11th episode of Tra Radici e Segreti, the video series that brings together the teams at Calendario Valtellinese and Waltella Vibes.

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The sources for this story

This reconstruction is based on the research material collected by Alessio of Waltella Vibes on the Scudo di San Michele, the Feast of the Apparition, and the figure of Saint Michael the Archangel, as well as the legend handed down about Mario Omodei. In support of this, the following were consulted: a 2006 text attributed to Pietro Maletti, the creator of the sweet, written around the time the product was first launched; the 2026 communications relating to the De.Co. recognition awarded to the Scudo; and local materials concerning the statue of Saint Michael at the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Tirano, and its role as a weather vane.