Every summer, when the evenings grow long and the inland villages bring out their wooden tables and benches, Romagna starts eating in the square again. The sagre, the village food feasts, are not a tourist attraction: they are how a community raises money for its football team, its parish or its Pro Loco, the local volunteer association, and it does so with the two things it does better than anyone else, the sfoglia, the sheet of egg pasta, and the piadina. Here is an indicative calendar, month by month, of the events we know and that come round every year. Dates change and so do programmes: before getting into the car, always check the official website of the town council or the Pro Loco.
How to read this calendar
The sagre of Romagna fall into two families. There are the historic feasts, with a name and a time of year that have repeated for decades, and there are the village sagre, which change evening, dish and organiser almost every year. Of the first we can name the month with reasonable confidence. Of the second we can only say where to look for them. In both cases the rule is the same: the main dish is nearly always a soup in broth or a pasta with ragù rolled by hand by a group of volunteers, and the piadina is cooked on the testo, the flat earthenware plate, in front of you.
March: the Segavecchia
At Forlimpopoli, in the week of mid Lent, comes the Segavecchia: a carnival out of season, with floats, parades and the staging of the trial of the old woman sawn in half in the square. It is an old village feast, and its food stalls open the year’s calendar. If you fancy cappelletti in March, this is the place.
April and May: warming up
In spring the first feasts of the Apennines and the hills get going, often tied to a seasonal product rather than to pasta. It is the best moment to taste tortelli di erbe, which in Romagna are made with whatever the vegetable garden gives in those months. Look at the Pro Loco programmes between Faenza, Brisighella and the Savio valley.
June: the Festa Artusiana
The most important date for anyone who loves home cooking is at Forlimpopoli, at the end of June, with the Festa Artusiana. For about ten days the town where Pellegrino Artusi was born turns into one large open air kitchen: streets renamed with the titles of the recipes from his book, stalls, talks, workshops at Casa Artusi, sfogline at work in the square. It is the feast where the sfoglia is the declared star and not just a side attraction, and it is worth a journey even from far away.
July and August: the village sagre
In the two summer months the calendar explodes. Almost every hamlet inland between Imola, Forlì, Cesena and Rimini puts on at least one evening of feasting, and the menu is nearly always the same: cappelletti in broth or with ragù, tagliatelle, passatelli, strozzapreti, piadina with sausage. Around Cesena and Rimini, fresh pasta and piadina are often the stars of themed evenings, and several sagre run pasta rolling contests, with the competitors at the board and the crowd cheering for their grandmother. Along the coast, from Cervia to Cattolica, there is no shortage of piadina feasts: look for them in the town councils’ summer programmes.
We could not list them all, and we are not going to try: ask at the village bar, look at the posters stuck on the lamp posts, follow the social pages of the Pro Loco.
September: the late summer fairs
September brings the historic fairs. At Russi, around the middle of the month, the Fira di Sett Dulur, the fair of the Seven Sorrows, is among the oldest in the Bassa Romagna, with stalls of traditional cooking. At Ravenna the Sagra de Caplet, at Novafeltria the Festa della Vendemmia e dei frutti d’autunno, the grape harvest and autumn fruit festival, and, at the end of the month, the Sagra del Savor at Montegelli, devoted to Romagna’s cooked grape must, fill the old centres with stalls, shows and local food.
October: the Apennines
October is the month of what the woods give, and the sfoglia goes with it. At Sant’Agata Feltria, on the Sundays of the month, there is the white truffle fair, where the tagliatelle are eaten with exactly what you would expect. At Montefiore Conca the Sagra della Castagna, the chestnut festival, now past its sixtieth edition, offers roast chestnuts, market stalls and of course food stands. At Perticara the Sagra della Polenta e dei frutti di bosco serves, at several refreshment points, the traditional polenta dressed with the sauces of the tradition.
November: San Martino and the autumn sagre
In November, autumn in Romagna reaches its gastronomic peak: it is the month when the cheese comes out of the pits, of extra virgin oil just pressed, and of the great village fairs celebrating the richest products of the tradition. At Santarcangelo di Romagna, around 11 November, the Fiera di San Martino, also known as the fair of the horns, is the Romagna feast par excellence: the great horns hung under the arch, the stalls of piadina, cheese and cappelletti, the new wines. At Talamello, around the middle of the month, with L’Ambra di Talamello, timed to the traditional opening of the pits, the village celebrates its famous formaggio di fossa, the pit aged cheese christened “Ambra” by the poet Tonino Guerra. At Sogliano al Rubicone, on the last two Sundays of November and the first of December, the Fiera del Formaggio di Fossa di Sogliano DOP has celebrated the opening of the pits for more than fifty years.
December: cappelletti in the markets
In December there are no proper sagre, but in many Christmas markets in the towns of Romagna you will find the stalls of the sfogline selling fresh cappelletti for Christmas Eve. It is the right moment to compare fillings and to take a tray home, if the family cannot manage to close them all.
Advice
- Take cash: many sagre still have a till with a book of paper tickets and do not accept cards.
- Taste everything: the stalls selling local products offer samples, so you can decide which treasure to take home.
- Watch the sfogline: at many sagre the sfoglia is rolled in front of the public. If you want to understand the gestures, our guide to rolling pasta by hand will help you read what you are seeing.
- Always check: the dates you find here are indicative. Official programmes usually come out a few weeks beforehand, on the websites of the town councils and the Pro Loco.
And if a sagra disappoints you, do not judge the village: go back the year after, the cooks may have changed.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Festa Artusiana in Forlimpopoli held?
Around the end of June, for about ten days, in the town where Pellegrino Artusi was born. The exact dates change every year: check the programme on the official website of the festival or of the town council before setting off.
What is the best time of year for sagre in Romagna?
July and August for the village sagre of the inland areas, with cappelletti, passatelli and piadina almost every evening. September and November for the historic fairs, such as those of Russi, Santarcangelo and Sogliano al Rubicone. In winter what remains are the markets with the stalls of the sfogline.
How can I tell whether a sagra is really happening this year?
Official programmes usually come out a few weeks beforehand on the websites of the town councils and of the Pro Loco associations, and on their social pages. The dates in this article are indicative: take them as a guide, not as a confirmation.
