Italy is a country rich in traditions that vary from north to south, region to region.

Traditions might be the same but celebrated in different ways depending on the places.

If you’ve ever visited Italy you might have heard about the ”sagre”, local celebrations and festivals that involve food that take place throughout the year, and during the summer they might even take place every weekend.

Every town or village has its own sagre, and every single one of them is different.

They might celebrate food, a local product, a saint or tradition with local specialities. 

But… what is a sagra exactly?

The word sagra (singular) comes from the Latin sacrum which means ”sacred” and there are so many of them, from more famous ones like La Sagra dell’Uva (the sagra of the grape), this as you can probably imagine involves wine and a lot of drinking, to smaller ones typical of their village or town.

Each sagra is dedicated to a local delicacy, ingredient or agricultural activity and always gives a taste of the local life.

For example, a chestnut festival, a potato festival, a sausage festival, a fennel festival and you might also find festivals for local dishes such as pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans) and la polenta. They are celebrated mostly throughout summer during the weekends and they might last one day or more, and it’s all about eating. 

What are the typical features of a sagra?

Although each sagra is different, they all share the same features. Along with food, there’s always some type of entertainment, whether that be live music from some local band, a bigger concert or a funfair.

Whenever you go to one of these sagre you will always find a similar setup. For instance, there will be plenty of benches, tables and chairs where people can sit and enjoy their food and have a chat with a drink.

People usually order their food then go to sit down and enjoy their evening, people dance along with live music and kids run around and play. 

Another feature you might find during these celebrations is a funfair that in Italian we call luna park or le giostre, which in English is ”carousels”.

In Italian, we use giostre to refer to all kinds of fair rides: bumper cars, Ferris wheel, kids roller coaster etc.

Food vans, on the other hand, are an essential feature of a sagra.

Without food, there is no celebration. You will find different ones selling different types of food depending what the festival is about.

To order your dish you usually wait in line and they serve it on a plastic plate, don’t expect anything fancy. When you get your food you can then go to find a table to sit at and enjoy it. Sometimes the queues can get really long, so it’s always better to get in line quite early, or otherwise, the food will finish before you get there. Happened to my dad once lol.

If the sagra happens during the day, most times you will also find a market where people sell local products like organic marmalade, honey,