Enrico & Elena — A Beach Wedding in Modica, Sicily
There's a particular moment at every beach wedding when the formality of the day quietly dissolves — shoes come off, jackets come off, and what's left is just people, sand, and music. For Enrico and Elena, that moment arrived at Al Velico di Maganuco, on a stretch of Sicilian coast that turned their wedding day into something closer to a summer party than a reception.
The couple, who travelled from Padua for their wedding, had married earlier that afternoon at the Duomo di San Giorgio in Modica — one of the most celebrated Baroque churches in Italy, with Padre Michele officiating and Lina Pluchino filling the nave with live music. But it was the second half of the day, on the beach, that they had really been picturing when they imagined their wedding: a hundred guests, bare feet in the sand, and the sea as a backdrop instead of a postcard.
At Al Velico, tables were set directly on the beach as the light began to soften into gold. There's a specific kind of atmosphere a chalet like this creates that no inland villa can quite replicate — the sound of the sea underneath the conversation, the smell of salt in the air, the sense that the party has nowhere else to be but exactly here. Dinner unfolded slowly, toasts carried out over the sound of small waves, and as the sky went from gold to blue to black, the real celebration began.
Casabianca kept the music running long into the night, and it wasn't long before Enrico and Elena — along with most of their guests — were dancing barefoot directly on the sand. A screen was set up for the evening, adding a cinematic, almost open-air-theatre feel to the later hours of the party, guests drifting between the dance floor, the shoreline, and the tables lit only by candlelight and string lights overhead. No fireworks, no fixed script — just a hundred people who had flown and driven in from across Italy, choosing to spend their night together on a beach in Sicily.
Two videographers and two photographers ( Angelo Alborino alborinophotography.it) worked the party in parallel with the ceremony earlier in the day, but it's the beach hours that carry the film's real energy: the unposed laughter, the dancing, the late-night interviews where Enrico and Elena, barefoot and still in their wedding clothes, talked about the day in their own words. It's the kind of footage that can't be planned for — only waited for, on a beach, as the night goes on.
From Padua to the heart of Sicily, this is their story: a wedding that began under a Baroque façade and ended, as the best Sicilian weddings often do, with everyone dancing on the sand.
If you want to watch the entire full wedding film:
FAQ
What is Al Velico di Maganuco? Al Velico is a beachfront venue at Maganuco, on the coast near Modica and Pozzallo in southeastern Sicily, used for beach-style wedding receptions with dinner served directly on the sand.
Can you host a wedding reception on the beach in Sicily? Yes. Several venues along the coast near Modica and Pozzallo, including Al Velico di Maganuco, are set up for beachfront wedding receptions — combining a traditional church ceremony inland with a relaxed evening party by the sea.
Is Maganuco a good location for a beach wedding party in Sicily? Maganuco sits on Sicily's southeastern coast, close to Modica, Scicli and Pozzallo, making it easy to pair a Baroque church ceremony with a beachfront reception on the same day.
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