Italy's August Food Festivals and Concerts

 

Posters announce local food festivals in August

 

 

 

Sagra  in the piazza, Monte Romano

 

Italy, the land of great food and great music,  really earns this  reputation  during August. For the entire month  small towns and large  put on  food festivals / sagre  where trestle tables  are set up  in the main piazza and everyone enjoys  traditional food under the stars. 

 

The triangle   where   N. Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria   meet  is  one of the best areas  to pass  the month of August ; each town has a rich calendar of sagre  dedicated to local  dishes  and neighboring towns vie with one another to  attract tourists and  locals.

The Sagre are favored by vacationing city dwellers who delight at  the  quality/price ratio. Abundant  and genuine food  is offered at a fraction of what  it would cost to eat out in  a  big city like Rome.

Posters announcing  each town’s  sagra  are visible  on bulletin boards and walls towards the end of June, throughout July and reach the peak  for  the mid August Ferragosto holiday . 

 Check Move magazine for  complete  and up to date listings.

 

When you have had your fill of   grilled sausages and pasta with truffles   then you can enjoy one of the  numerous  concerts  held  in churches and castles  throughout  the  summer.  

At  the magnificent Roman amphitheatres  of  Ferento (Viterbo) and Vulci (near Montalto di Castro ) one can  sit on the original stone steps (cushions are available )  that have been in use for 2,000 years and enjoy  a concert or theatre performance.   

fresco, S.Maria Nuova, Viterbo

 

Ensemble Ottaviano Alberti

Evangelina Mascardi directing 

Concerts and cultural  happenings  are also held in  medieval churches and Renaissance castles which abound in  Northern Lazio.  We recently attended a magnificent concert "L'Idillio amoroso " love songs and music from the 15-16th century  in S. Maria Nuova  Church which  dates  from the year 1008!

 

The  castles of Vignanello, Vasanello and  Proceno  are  just a few privately owned castles where one can enjoy  candle lit concerts throughout the summer . 

The magnificent  Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola is another venue for music and concerts year round.

Use the search bar above to find more articles on these  historic  palazzi and castles. 

hosts at  Castello di Campogiordano

 

After a lengthy restoration the  Castello di Campogiordano  in Vetralla has now joined the list of "castello di musica"    where cultural events are held.

 

pre-theatre aperitivo

readings  by candlelight in the castle courtyard

 

Do you have a favorite sagra  or concert venue in Italy ?  Tell us about it in the comments. Feel free to share with friends by clicking on the  icons below.

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Italy's Summer Festival Delimma

 Pisa San Ranieri festival  illumination draws  crowds  

 If you are planning a summer stay in one of Italy’s beautiful mid-size towns be sure to  check the dates of the local summer festival before booking your flight and accommodations.   Many historic Italian towns celebrate summer with  festivals that  draw large crowds such as  Pisa’s  Luminara di San Ranieri and Gioco del Ponte which have been celebrated  in mid June for hundreds of years.

the tower of Pisa  by night 

Other towns like  Montefiascone and Vignanello have  invented festivals or sagre  celebrating  local wine  and local food stars at the Cene in Cantina in my hometown, Vetralla. 

Along with providing entertainment,  these festivals produce  a great  amount of  confusion  annihilating the usual lifestyle of historic towns.   

The  younger crowd  looking for  lots of action may enjoy  the added buzz of  a  summer festival, but if  you prefer more traditional, slower paced living and genuine Italian lifestyle, organize your holiday  stay  before or after the festival or book a place distant  from the festival venue in order to enjoy the festivities and also get a good night’s sleep.

Italian towns cannot  compete with the night life of  Ibiza or Mykonos yet  Vetralla’s  Cene in Cantina festival boasted  4 nights of  rock music  blasted by  powerful speakers  and a strange, sweet "perfume" wafted through the air  from 11 p.m. until well after 2 a.m. 

In Viterbo  the pseudo-cultural Caffeina Festival’s  ten evenings of happenings boasted many food stands cooking up fried foods and selling  alcoholic drinks in medieval piazzas where local restaurants regularly  close down.

circus or cultural festival? 

contrasting  with the medieval architecture 

 As tourists walked  through Europe’s best preserved medieval quarter San Pellegrino, they wondered:  What do energy drinks  and mojito have to do with medieval Italy?

The lower prices and commercial (junk) food served  at the 10-day festival  creates a lot of competition with  permanent restaurants offering quality local fare.. and what about the health safeguards?  During a  street-side show  cooking, a chef was coughing directly  onto the  food  being prepared.  

This year the organizers of the Viterbo festival, perhaps sensing their future demise, decided to milk the city’s major volunteer and cultural associations.

Archeotuscia presents in Cortile dell'Abate 

on the far right, Caffeina staff take "donations" 

 Archeotuscia with its 500+ members was given time and space on the festival  calendar to publicize  their association, but in order to enter  the piazza where the presentation was being held  everyone, including members, was  asked to “donate”  3.50 euro to Caffeina’s organizers. 

A mammoth book stall set up in the  main piazza seemed to be a sign of culture: but after scouring the tables loaded with books  and interviewing a volunteer (one of  250 who receive only a free meal and T shirt) I realized there was a complete  absence of books, authors and publications from and about  the Viterbo/Tuscia area.  

book tent at Caffeina

There are a smattering of local authors presenting their latest books during the quiet dinner hours, and hopefully the audience will not mind paying a ticket to attend.

 It was a surprise  to see  an entire stand dedicated to Gabriele D’Annunzio’s  Vittoriale located on Lake Garda in northern Italy. This was done to  thank  a commercial writer  whose books have been presented numerous times at the Festival. 

The city's older residents,  families  and sleep deprived working people become prisoners of these summer festivals for they have little access to their neighborhoods and can be seen schlepping  their groceries from distant parking areas.

Local tourism operators, restaurants,  B&Bs and  artisans who keep the  historic center (especially San Pellegrino ) alive all through the year are not happy with the filth, broken bottles, hooligans and extra garbage produced.

San Pellegrino,  8:30 a.m. 

 Inhabitants and administrators are beginning to realize that concentrating large doses of festival/culture/action may not be worth the problems created.  This year the discussions concerning  these noisy  summer festivals  have been rife  and  the idea of  sustainable tourism is now  being considered.

historic fountain and portapotty

A set of guidelines and  rules of behavior are needed to protect the  rights of citizens living in the areas where the festivals are held.  Safeguarding  fragile medieval and Renaissance buildings, fountains and  piazzas  is another priority.

historic fountains masqueraded as plant holders

massive speakers for a tiny piazza 

 The architectural  monuments that make our towns and cities so special should not be masked by garish  carnival rides and  plastic flowers.  

A summer festival that involves high decibel  music should  have a proper  container: a stadium, a large outdoor space or  theatre  not  a tiny, flower filled piazza which serves as an outdoor living room to its inhabitants.

 Read  more about this on my previous blog  article.  

Your comments and shares are appreciated. What are summer festivals like in your area?