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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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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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