AUGUST 17TH POCAPAGLIA - SAINT PATRON FESTIVAL
This events last all week until Saturday 23rd. On Sunday 17th, the festivities start with a parade of old cars in the morning, then live music and bbq'd meet until late evening. BBQ all evenings of the week. The main event is Saturday 23rd with dinner under the stars. The menu may vary slightly but is normally it comprises bruschetta, bagna caoda, and cold cuts (appetizers), tajarin (pasta), sausages (main meal), honey and cheese, fruit salad and cakes (dessert). The meal which includes drinks, is prepared by each district, and costs € 15.00 per person. The evening is gladdened by jugglers, and flag throwers.
AUGUST 22ND MONTICELLO - SAUSAGE FESTIVAL
Street parties, live music dancing and salsiccia food festival from the 22nd to the 26th of August. Friday features sport events (beach volley and fist ball), Saturday hosts the evening dinner from 8:00 p.m. with green, sausages, salami, roasted sucking pig, fries, and cheese; includes wine. Th evening meal is followed by dancing and sinking and shops are open all night long. Price is € 15.00 per person and reservations are a must. Sunday's dinner includes paella, sangria, prosciutto, tomatoes of San Felice, dessert and wine. Price is € 15.00 per person and reservations are also a must. For info and reservation call 0173 64468 or 0173 64691. On Tuesday the festivities include an evening meal, dancing on the street and fireworks.
SEPTEMBER 4th CERESOLE D'ALBA - SAINT PATRON FESTIVAL
Tinca of Ceresole d'Alba. Includes "paglio dei borghi"
At 8:00 p.m. on Saturday the visitor can dine at the Masca Fiorina's porterhouse or in any of the open air stands installed on the streets and courtyards of the historic Centre of Montà. Dinner at the porterhouse costs € 15.00, and a reservation is welcomed, whereas snacks in the open air stalls, which include a different dish on each plus a glass of wine, will cost you € 3.00/4.00 per serving. Reservations can be made by calling 393-9019347 or 0173-976181. At 10:00 p.m. the historic trial of Masca Fiorina is revived by more than 100 costumed actors.
Then live music and dancing on the streets.
Sunday's festivities start with breakfast in the San Michele square: a personality will entertain the crowd with stories about Montà in the '600. This is followed by wine and honey tasting, and by a lunch which features dishes eaten in the 16th Century. During lunch forward observers will have spotted the French troops advancing trough the fields and closing in: the Montanesi prepare in a hurry to meet the advancing enemy: after a few attempts by the French commander to impress on the Montanesi that they should surrender, the Montanesi are attacked twice but they come out victorious: the French retreat to save their skins. The celebration continues with the "Palio degli Asini" (donkey race) in which each district races the best donkey it has been able to find and train. Food and drinks are served on the street and open air stalls as in the evening before. The festivities end officially with the burning of Montà, revived through the evening fireworks at 10 p.m.
This eighth Salone del Gusto establishes the event’s international profile and confirms it as a key date in the calendar of everyone around the world who cares deeply about food. The Salone del Gusto and its parallel event, Terra Madre, have by now become two inseparable and interconnected halves, in constant dialog with each other. They offer perhaps the only place in the world where peasants and artisan producers, academics and chefs, wine connoisseurs and novice food lovers can come together in a spirit of exchange and friendship.
A dense network of relationships is created here on behalf of food that is sustainable and can still transmit joy, food restored to its true value. The Salone del Gusto is educational, because it is about learning, knowing, comparing and discovering, but always in the name of a right to responsible and fully shared pleasure.
The Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre are above all a festival, celebrating what we eat and the people who make it.
