The town of Terranuova Bracciolini in the province of Arezzo will be busy again in May with a local bean and cheese festival taking place. Tuscany is the place to be for Italian food festivals and in the past the town has also hosted a strawberry festival. Whether you’re a fan of Tuscan regional cuisine and legumes or not, you can still enjoy the beautiful landscape spotted with towers and medieval castles.

In addition to enjoying the local Italian cheese available at this ’sagra’, you can also visit some of the 16th century artworks and frescoes in the town, stopping by the church of the Madonna delle Grazie to see works by Francesco d’Antonino. For more information on the town, see the Terranuova Bracciolini council website.

Continue reading: Italian food festivals: cheese in Tuscany at Terranuova Bracciolini

The town of Carpegna, in Pesaro and Urbino, in the region of the Marche, celebrates its “Sega la Vecchia” Italian sagra in the form of the town sports festival every year. The four parishes of the town get together for a traditional meet, challenging each other in games, followed by a huge country banquet. The whole festival takes place on March 27 and involves sack races, hoop races, tug-of-war for both men and women, wood sawing, sled racing, and other old fashioned games.

At the end of the of this Italian festival, the team who wins parades through the town with the “vecchia”, meaning old lady - a folkloric statue figure who returns every year for the games - before burning the figurine in the piazza outside the town’s “palazzo”. Afterwards, the mess hall and benches are made available for the post-victory dinner. For more information, see the Carpegna site.

Continue reading: Mini olympics at Pesaro and Urbino: Italian town festival from Carpegna

Whether famous or not, apples are a traditional Italian product, with the most well known being the apples of Trentino-Alto Adige in Italy’s north. An old Italian food festival is being revived though, at Casalnoceto, between Alessandria and Pavia, where the apple was once king.

At the eastern border of Piedmont, the festival or ‘sagra‘ of the ‘pom di moj’ (in Italian dialect), is being held to celebrate the method that was once invented to preserve apples. The ‘moj’ method was one where healthy apples were washed, placed in a demijohn with a large neck, and covered with a slightly alcoholic wine and vinegar. They were kept there for about 40 days and then were taken out towards the end of March to be eaten at the traditional spring festival.

The apple festival of Casalnoceto takes place on Sunday, March 21st, starting at 9:30 am and going all day. You can taste the bitter-sweet local apples and discover this relatively unknown but beautiful part of Italy. Casalnoceto is located about 100 km east of Turin, and only 75 km from Milan, making it a great option for a day tour from Milan. For more information on the town, see the Piemonte in dettaglio site.

Continue reading: Apple 'sagra' in Italy: Italian food festival of 'pom a moj' at Casalnoceto, Alessandria

An unusual Italian food festival celebrating polenta will take place at Castel di Tora, Rieti in the region of Lazio. The ‘sagra‘ will take place on February 21st at the gates to the historic town centre where an enormous copper pot will be heated and an expert polenta stirrer will continually turn the polenta in the pot. The traditional way of making polenta is in a large copper saucepan with a handle, and it’s generally hot, hard work to continually stir it.

The polenta from Castel di Tora is generally served with herring sauce, tuna, codfish and anchovies. Other features of the polenta festival include the opportunity to taste other traditional products from the region, including bruschetta with extra virgin olive oil from Sabina, and the world famous “spaghetti all’amatriciana”.

The town not only provides the polenta party but also a historical renactment and fashion parade of medieval times. In the afternoon, a parade of medieval costumes takes place around the streets of the town, and then medieval jousting and fighting tournaments are conducted by masquerading actors. Castel di Tora is one of 16 towns in Italy that is part of a cultural polenta association (the Associazione Culturale dei “Polentari d’Italia”), which celebrates the cultural significance and history of Italy’s unsung traditional cuisine - polenta.

Continue reading: Italian food festivals: polenta 'sagra' in Lazio

The first thing to note about Italian cold cut meat products is that there are many many many different products, and their names are very specific. First of all, what we know as “salami” in English, is actually written “salame”. It is most usually considered a Milanese tradition, though you will find it everywhere.

The normal, inconspicuous salami is not to be confused with the “salama da sugo”, or gravy salami, which is a different kettle of fish. It is a traditional pork salami from Ferrara, which is prepared by mincing different parts of the pig, mostly the tongue, liver and neck area. The pig has been an essential animal throughout Italian history, and nothing is ever wasted.

This mince mix is then enriched with spices, mostly cloves, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, with a final touch of red wine. The whole is then packaged using a pork product such as the bladder, stomach lining etc, and then it is left to season and age for a year.

Continue reading: Italian online course word of the day: salame, salami, or salama?

Summer in Italy means “sagra” time which is basically town parties that may, or may not, have religious connotations. Whoever you ask though, will tell you that the important thing is to eat well and have fun. So here is a mini-calendar for your Italian summer travels.

At the sports hall in Ferrara from August 8 to 24 a salami tradition is being renewed with the Sagra del salame alla brace, or grilled salami events.

From August 9 to 17 at Bagnore in Santa Fiora in the Grosseto region, the sagra dell’acqua cotta takes place, along with dishes such as tortellini polenta and boiled wild pig.

Continue reading: Summer in Italy: "le sagre" of August and food and wine festivals