Frog festival

Original name: Sagra del Ranocchio

Place: Brozzi (hamlet) in municipality of Florence, in Florence province.

First year of the festival: 1975

Period: last weekend of of May - first weekend of June

2023 scheduled on: Saturday, May 27 - Sunday, May 28 - Saturday, June 3 - Sunday, June 4

Opening times: only dinner, from 7.00 p.m.

Local Specialties:

• First courses: penne al sugo di pecora, pasta with sheep sauce;
• Second courses: ranocchi fritti, fried frogs; pecora in umido, sheep stew; pecora alla griglia, grilled sheep; trippa alla fiorentina, Florentine tripe.

Ponds and small lakes once abundant in the vast plain near Florence were full of frogs, that's why a traditional local food was fried frogs. It was costless and a source of good meat. Nowadays frogs are imported from abroad Italy, but the recipe is the same, popular old one: frogs are soaked in a mix of eggs and lemon juice and after fried in olive oil.

Other very local food was sheep, as this area was a regular stop for shepherds moving between south and north Tuscany's pastures- an ancient habit called transhumance. Sheep meat was then well available twice a year in Brozzi and nearby Florence plain. Dishes with sheep in Brozzi's festival, pasta with sheep sauce or sheep meat stew or grilled, are excellent.