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Italian festivals – six great reasons to go
PISA
Palio di Siena
Aug 13-16
The Palio horse race of Siena, the most famous in Italy, has been going for over 350 years. Now held twice a year, in July and again in August, the race attracts spectators from all over the world. In the run up to the main race trials are held to choose which horse and rider will represent each contrade, or city ward. By the time of the final race, and the spectacular pageant that precedes it, the Palio frenzy is well and truly in place. The race takes place in the city’s Piazza del Campo, which seats 33,000 spectators and provides a standing area for another 28,000, yet residents still manage to rent out their balconies and windows. For more information go to www.ilpalio.org.

NAPLES
Pizzafest
Sept 6-16
The home of pizza celebrates the most Neapolitan of dishes with a two-week blowout every September. Pizzerias all over the city participate, including the world’s first, the Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba (Via Port’Alba 18) – still open for business after 150 years. The centre of the city is filled with the delicious smell of pizza, and of course there are lots of free samples, as well as pizza-making classes, music, entertainment and dancing. The end of Pizzafest coincides with another famous Neapolitan event, the religious festival of San Gennaro, in which a vial of the saint’s blood miraculously liquefies each year. Call +39 081 4201205 or see www.pizzafest.info for more information.

VENICE
Sagra Del Pesce
Sept 16
Take Vaporetto 12 to the island of Burano (known as the ‘Fishermen’s Island’) on the third Sunday in September for the annual fish festival and regatta. Tonnes of fried fish and polenta and barrels of white wine are consumed at stalls set up in the narrow lanes between Burano’s brightly painted houses. From the shore you can see the costumes and gondolas of the colourful Burano Regatta, the last race of the local rowing season and a hotly contested grudge match in which the losers of the ‘Historic Regatta’ held earlier in the month have an opportunity for revenge. The ferry landing stage is a great vantage point.

MILAN
Milano Moda Donna Primavera/Estate
Sept 22-29
Milano Moda Donna is Milan’s Fashion Week in which leading designers present their spring/summer womenswear collections. All the major designers will be showing of course, but there is also an annual ‘Re-Generation’ contest in which new young designers compete for the opportunity to showcase their creations. Last year’s winners included Lily, Silique and Varun Bahl. See www.cameramoda.it for more information.

ROME
RomaEuropa Festival
Nov 7-Dec 15
Rome’s cutting-edge performing arts festival offers an eclectic mix of music, dance and theatre. Celebrated dance group La La La Human Steps are performing ‘Amjad’ – a new piece by Canadian/Moroccan choreographer Edouard Lock. Chinese group Zuhe Niao, a collective of professional and amateur dancers, perform their ‘physical theatre’ piece ‘Tongue’s Memory of Home’. Visual arts include an exhibition by Swedish artist Christian Partos, and the eclectic music lineup includes Onur Özer’s Istanbul minimal techno and French DJ crew Birdy Nam Nam, who will be manipulating sounds live while the ZUR Collective creates multimedia art around them. See www.romaeuropa.net for more information.

TURIN
25th Torino Film Festival
Nov 23-Dec 1
The most important film festival in Italy after Venice, the Turin Film Festival has a solid reputation as a breeding ground for new talent. While focusing on young film-makers, avant-garde cinema and films from developing countries, the festival is also known internationally for its deeply satisfying in-depth retrospectives – this year featuring independent cinema directors John Cassavetes and Wim Wenders. The festival recently relocated to Turin’s largest cinema – the 11-screen Pathé multiplex designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano. Cinema passes range from €5 - €60. For more information go to www.torinofilmfest.org.

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