FAQ

Palaie, in Florence province. Hare festival (Sagra della Lepre). Hare stew (lepre in umido), a wonderful second course dish once rather common in hunting season, but now way less easy to find. A good reason to choose a sagra is the season. Sagra is about traditional food and this kind of dishes in the ancient times were prepared following a strict calendar, depending on the agriculture ...

Seeing a poster of the sagra along the way is a confirmation that you are on the right way. Indeed, most of the sagras are organized in small villages or hamlets. A sagra is often the most important festive period of a community, so the place where it takes place must contain a lot of people: it can be a football field, a meadow or a big square. In cold seasons a hall, a ballroom ...

That's another reason to try to get to a sagra early: sometimes it can be difficult to find a parking place. Some sagras have an huge attendance, so a big park is sometimes prepared, for instance, a flat field. Generally, you won't pay anything for the park, but it will be unguarded, and it's not a good idea to leave anything inside the car.

Since a sagra is an event dedicated to a special food, a recipe, or some few recipes of traditional cuisine, the menu is focused on that matter. That's why quite everywhere the menu of a sagra has nothing to compare to the vastness of a restaurant's menu. Moreover, food is prepared by a staff of volunteers, which are local and usually live in the village where the sagra is held. These ...

Wine will be quite everywhere a simple good wine, sometimes rather basic, but quite generally good. A sagra is a feast in a village, with dishes from the traditional Tuscan cuisine which was a peasant one. Back in the old times, peasants used to drink their own produced wine, a popular one. So in a sagra you will not find the rush to the stellar bottles common to some high level ...

Let's now analyze the menu of a real sagra. We've chosen the Wild boar festival (Sagra del cinghiale) of Monteloro, a small hamlet in the municipality of Pontassieve, in the province of Florence. The menu of Monteloro sagra First courses Wild boar in Tuscany is often the basic ingredient in a sauce for a first course pasta dish. Or a second course dish, cooked for a long time ...

Well, you took your time studying the menu and finally you made your decision. You decided to take, say, two first courses, two second courses, side dishes, 1 liter red wine, 1 liter natural water, and two desserts. So, now it's time to order! You have to queue and it may take a while to get to the cash, depending on the attendance. When it's your turn, you have to use all Italian words ...

A sagra is a local feast, sometimes it's "the" local feast and usually, quite always, some entertainment is scheduled, especially after dinner. Traditionally, in many sagras a ballroom music concert starts around 9 pm or later in the evening. In Italian, this music is called "liscio" or "ballo liscio" and it's very popular among elders. Also disco music or ...