Asti's Festival of Festivals facts for kids
The Festival of Festivals (called Festival delle Sagre in Italian) is a fun event that celebrates old country traditions. It happens every year in Asti, Italy, during the "Settembre Astigiano" (Asti September). This festival takes place on the weekend of the second Sunday in September.
It's one of three big events in September for Asti. The other two are the Douja d'Or wine show and the Palio of Asti horse race. The Festival of Festivals usually starts on Saturday night and continues all day Sunday. The Saturday evening part often brings in the most visitors. About 200,000 people visit the festival each year!
On Sunday, a colorful parade winds through the city streets. It shows off old country life and traditions. More than 3,000 people dress up in old-fashioned costumes for the parade.
History of the Festival
The idea for the Festival of Festivals came from Giovanni Borello in 1974. He was the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Asti. He wanted to add something special to the Douja d'Or, which was mostly a wine contest.
His plan was to create a festival that celebrated the old ways of country life. The organizers really focused on the food part of the event. They wanted to bring together all the different local dishes from the area. This way, the food would go perfectly with the local wines.
Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the festival to be canceled in 2020 and 2021.
Food and Wine Fair
The Festival delle Sagre has Italy's biggest outdoor restaurant! It offers many real Piedmont dishes. More than 40 local groups called Pro Loco (short for "Pro Loco associations") share their special foods.
These foods are served with Asti DOC and DOCG wines. Stalls are set up in Asti's large main square, 'Campo del Palio'. They are arranged to look like an old village.
People use old recipes, passed down through families, to make over eighty different dishes. These dishes use ingredients that are special to the Asti area. Some foods are quite unique, like rice with Barbera d'Asti wine. Other dishes include Polenta with wild boar stew, rabbit agnolotti, or fried alborelle (a type of fish).
Some dishes are made in huge amounts. For example, in 2004, over 4,000 kilograms of rabbit agnolotti were eaten! All the food is sold at good prices.
The Parade
On Sunday morning, a long parade moves through the streets of Asti. It shows what country life was like up until the early 1900s. The parade has more than 3,000 people dressed in real old-time clothes.
You'll also see old tools, furniture, and all kinds of items from the past. There are antique tractors, farm machines, wagons, and even farm animals like oxen, horses, mules, and donkeys. The parade brings scenes of farm life to life, showing how things changed with the seasons. It's like a living museum!
The parade lasts about two hours as it goes through the city center. It ends just as the food and wine fair begins, which runs from noon until the evening.
