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FOOD AND DRINK

Sagra: The best Italian food festivals to visit in October

If you're visiting Italy in October, you won't want to miss the many local food fairs held around the country. Here are some of the best 'sagre' you can stop by in the coming weeks.

Published: 30 September 2022 09:50 CEST
Updated: 29 September 2023 15:19 CEST
Man smelling a glass of Italian moscato.
The end of summer means the return of Italian food and drinks festivals, or ‘sagre’. Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP

One of the best things about visiting Italy in the autumn months is having the opportunity to attend a sagra, a type of harvest festival or fair centred around one particular food or drink item local to the town hosting it.

A sagra has a fairly broad definition: it could last for several weeks or one day, and might consist of anything from raucous celebrations with music and dancing to more relaxed tasting experiences amid food stalls and wooden benches. It will usually be hosted in a field or a piazza (square), and entry is free.

READ ALSO: Seven reasons autumn is the best time to visit Italy

What all sagre have in common is the focus on eating and drinking fresh local produce, and the assurance that you won’t leave unsated.

As October is by far the month with the most sagre, here are some of the best events taking place across the country in the coming weeks.

Campania 

Festa della Mela Annurca (‘annurca‘ apple festival), 20th-22nd October in Valle di Maddaloni, Caserta.

Sagra del Cinghiale (boar festival), every Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the month in Dugenta, Benevento.

Emilia Romagna

Sagra della Salamina da Sugo (salami festival), 4th-9th October in Poggio Renatico, Ferrara.

Sagra del Vino Romagnolo (Romagna’s wine festival), 5th-8th October in Cotignola, Ravenna.

Sagra del Tartufo (truffle festival), 6th-8th October in Bondeno, Ferrara.

Sagra dell’Anguilla (eel festival), first three weekends of the month in Comacchio, Ferrara.

Friuli Venezia Giulia 

Sagra del Pan-Zal (pumpkin focaccia festival), 12th-22nd October in San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone.

A street seller prepares roasted chestnuts in Rome.

Roasted chestnuts are a staple of Italy’s October ‘sagre’. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

Lazio

Sagra dell’Uva Cesanese del Piglio (‘cesanese‘ grapes festival), 29th September-1st October in Piglio, Frosinone.

Enorvinio (wine festival), 1st October in Orvinio, Rieti.

Castelli di Cioccolato (chocolate castles festival), 20th-22nd October in Marino, Rome.

Sagra delle Tacchie ai Funghi Porcini (‘tacchie‘ pasta and porcini mushroom festival), first two weekends of the month in Bellegra, Rome.

Lombardy

Castagnata a Caglio (chestnut festival), first two Sundays of the month in Caglio, Como.

Festival della Mostarda (mustard festival), 6th October-19th November in Cremona.

Fasulin de l’Oc con le Cudeghe (beans and pork rind festival), 28th-31st October in Pizzighettone, Cremona.

Marche

Castagnata in Piazza (chestnut festival), 21st and 22nd October in Montefiore dell’Aso, Ascoli Piceno. 

Piedmont

Sagra del Ciapinabò (Jerusalem artichoke festival), 6th-8th October in Carignano, Turin.

Cioccolato nel Monferrato (chocolate festival), 15th October in Altavilla Monferrato, Alessandria.

Puglia

Sagra del Calzone (calzone festival), 13th-15th October in Acquaviva delle Fonti, Bari.

Sicily

Funghi Fest (mushroom festival), 20th-22nd October in Castelbuono, Palermo.

Chocolate fair in Milan, Italy.

A number of chocolate festivals take place up and down the boot in October. Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP

Trentino Alto Adige

Festa dello Speck (smoked ham festival), 30th September-1st October in Plan de Corones, Bolzano.

Festa del Radicchio di Bieno (‘Bieno‘ radicchio festival), 1st October in Bieno, Trento.

Tuscany

Sagra del Fungo Amiatino (‘amiatino‘ mushroom festival), 14th-15th, 21st-22nd October in Bagnolo, Grosseto.

Sagra delle Frugiate (roasted chestnuts festivals), first three Sundays of the month in Pescia, Pistoia.

Boccaccesca (local food festival), 13th-15th October in Certaldo, Florence.

Umbria

Sagra del Sedano Nero e della Salsiccia (black celery and sausage festival), 14th-15th October in Trevi, Perugia.

Veneto

Festa del Baccalà (cod festival), 6th-9th October in Montegalda, Vicenza.

Festa delle Giuggiole (jujubes festival), 1st and 8th October in Arquà Petrarca, Padua.

Mele a Mel (apple festival), 6th-8th October in Mel, Belluno.

This list is not exhaustive. Did we miss out your favourite October sagra? Leave a comment below to let us know.

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OPINION

Doggy bags and sharing plates: Why Italy’s last food-related taboos are dying out

Italy is famous for its strong culinary traditions and unwritten rules around eating, but as Italians embrace doggy bags and informal dining, Silvia Marchetti argues that the last food-related taboos have been broken.

Published: 25 April 2024 09:40 CEST
Doggy bags and sharing plates: Why Italy's last food-related taboos are dying out

Italians are deadly serious when it comes to eating or, as they say, “mettere le gambe sotto il tavolo”, meaning ‘putting your feet under the table’.

Three meals per day remain sacrosanct at home, but at restaurants the eating etiquette is changing, particularly in big cities where globalisation has an effect.

I recently discovered, much to my surprise, that Italians are embracing doggy bags. When I was a kid, many many years ago, to us Italians it always seemed like something only foreigners could do, especially Americans.

We would never have asked a waiter to give us a paper bag to bring away the food for the next day, it just would never have popped up in our minds: you eat what you are served and if you no longer wanted what you’d paid for, well too bad, you’ll leave it on the plate. It would’ve been embarrassing to walk away with a doggy bag.

So I was shocked when recently at a restaurant in Rome I saw Italians taking away bags of leftover lunch food, including cold pizza slices and meatballs. It almost knocked me off my chair.

READ ALSO: Are doggy bags still taboo in Italy’s restaurants?

When the waitress came to our table to bring the cheque, and saw that we hadn’t finished our fried  fish and spaghetti alle vongole, she asked if we wanted a doggy bag. My jaw dropped. It was a first for me.

Yet what really shocked me was that the restaurant was not in the city centre, but in the countryside where traditions tend to survive, or at the very least, take longer to die.

It struck me how it’s no longer foreigners asking for doggy bags, but even Italians have overcome the stigma of this former faux pas.

The sad truth is that it’s not just because of globalisation and the economic crisis following the pandemic. There’s been a fall in the cultural level of many Italians, so asking for a doggy bag is also a way to avoid having to cook for the evening or for the day after, rather than to save money.

Sadly, this trend is not an exception, nor a one-off, and in Italy it’s not driven by concerns over food waste (we’re really not that ‘green’) or the cost of living.

Italian restaurants are simply becoming more generically European and international, adapting to global habits and the requests of foreign clientele.

In Rome’s touristy spots, restaurants showcase photos of dishes outside the restaurant to lure customers, or display real plates of gluey carbonara. This is something I had never seen in my childhood.

I have noticed that other restaurant eating taboos and etiquette rules have fallen away, too.

A few (well-off) friends of mine bring their own bottles of wine along when they eat out so that they don’t have to pay for these at the restaurant. I find this very inappropriate, but it usually happens when the restaurant owner and customers are friends or know each other.

READ ALSO: Want to eat well in Italy? Here’s why you should ditch the cities

Trends in restaurant etiquette are changing. There are eateries that serve pizza at lunch, which used to be something you could only order for dinner unless you’re in Naples.

The standard three courses which we normally have are also being messed up: appetisers, first, second and side dishes are eaten in a disorderly way – something which would make my granny turn in her grave.

I have seen Italian families first order a T-bone steak and then pasta or a slice of pizza, while many couples share plates. The man orders one type of spaghetti dish, the woman orders another kind of spaghetti and half-way through the meal they switch dishes. This was something very unusual in the past. Before in restaurant there were boundaries in eating habits and in the eating culture, which are now blurring.

My parents taught me it is rude to poke your fork into someone else’s plate to curl up some spaghetti for yourself. My dad always looked sideways at anyone who did that: not only is it extremely improper, he thinks, but it is also very unhygienic.

There are no more rules left in Italian restaurants nowadays, and all taboos have been broken.

To adapt to foreign clients many restaurants tend to stay open the whole day, especially in very touristy areas, and the untouchable hours of lunch and dinner now overlap. Some taverns even serve breakfast.

READ ALSO: Why do Italians get so angry if you mess with classic recipes?

In the north, I’ve noticed that bread and extra-virgin olive oil are often missing from the table and you have to ask for them, which is something very atypical of Italian standards.

To find the traditional Italian eating code in restaurants where there are rules that will never die, one must go deep into unknown spots, and travel to remote villages no one has ever heard of. It’s always harder to find such authentic, untouched places.

I really hate to say this, but wherever there is mass tourism local traditions tend to die, particularly food-related ones.

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