Italy's Autumn Comes Alive at These Traditional Festivals

The aroma of freshly pressed olive oil on bread, the first taste of truffles, a table of friends gathered around a pot of bagna cauda: in Italy, autumn comes alive through the rituals and flavours of local festivals. This is the season when the harvest brings people together, town squares fill with life, and communities share recipes and knowledge passed down through generations.

Joining Italy’s autumn food festivals means becoming part of these stories. From the apples of Val di Non to Talamello’s pit-aged cheese and Cremona’s nougat, each stop reveals a different way to celebrate the season.

Discover 10 traditional food festivals and celebrations to inspire your autumn trip to Italy in 2026, with local flavours to savour, people to meet and villages to explore.

In autumn, the whole world around us changes colour: nature is tinged with a thousand warm hues ranging from red to yellow to brown, and typical seasonal products appear on the tables of the various regions, each one different in its offer of local foods and dishes.

Precisely in order to exalt these first fruits and vegetables, Italian festivals in autumn and numerous events scattered throughout the peninsula have sprung up over time that can help us experience this season at its most 'tasty'.

Here is a selection of some of the most Italian festivals in autumn in 2026.

Let's start our discovery of Italian festivals in autumn from the northern mountains in Trentino Alto Adige, more precisely from Val di Non and Val di Sole. Here, the forbidden fruit of Eden is famous and much loved: this is why a festival dedicated to it was a must, and so Pomaria was born.

Pomaria Apple festival in Val di Non e Sole, will take place on October 17 and 18, 2026, in Casez, to pay homage to nature's generosity and celebrate the arrival of autumn and the end of the harvest. Exhibitions, displays, cooking workshops for adults and children, guided tours and tours, and performances will enliven this two-day event dedicated to the apple.

Also this year, 'Pomaria on the road' returns, which from October 1st to 17th, 2026  will feature various villages and realities linked to the 'Road of apples and flavours of the Valli di Non e di Sole'. Here, walks and events dedicated to apples but also to pears, cheese, honey and other delicious local products await you.

Save the date:

- Pomaria, Apple Festival October 17 and 18, 2026

- Pomaria on the road from October 1st to 17th, 2026

The Alba White Truffle is a renowned Piedmontese delicacy. From October 10 to December 6, 2026, Alba, in the province of Cuneo, will host the 96th edition of the festival dedicated to the Tuber Magnatum Pico, one of the most prestigious celebrations of fine gastronomy and Made in Italy.

The International Alba White Truffle Fair has a calendar packed with events, such as cooking shows by great chefs of national and international cuisine, historical re-enactments of the millenary culture of Alba, 'Unusual Dinners' in unusual locations, cooking courses in the prestigious setting of the Castle of Roddi, and much more.  

However, the historic heart of the 'Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d’Alba' (International Fair of the White Truffle of Alba) is the Alba White Truffle World Market, an elegant open-air setting of over 2,000 square metres in the 'Cortile della Maddalena' in Alba's historic centre. The market is the ideal place to buy magnificent specimens of Tuber Magnatum Pico under the supervision and support of the Quality Commission. Here you can also buy the best local food products and fine wines from Langhe Monferrato and Roero.

Save the date: 

International Alba white truffle fair from 10 October to 6 December 2026

The Valtellina is an Alpine region located in the province of Sondrio in Lombardy. It is the perfect destination for lovers of nature, mountains and good food.

One of the most famous typical dishes here is 'pizzoccheri', a variety of pasta in the shape of an elongated rectangle made with buckwheat flour mixed with other flours.

The town of Teglio is considered the home of this culinary speciality. In the last months of the year, it offers numerous weekends to savour the 'pizzoccheri' of the Accademia del Pizzocchero and other tasty local dishes. It is one of the events not to be missed among the Italian festivals in autumn.

The Pizzocchero d'Oro and Weekend del Gusto 2026 will take place on the weekends of September 5-6, 12-13, 19-20 and 26-27 as part of the Teglio Sapori festival.

The city of Imperia, in Liguria, has a long history of oil excellence. Since the 7th century, its hills and the entire western Ligurian region have been rich in olive trees producing 'olive taggiasche' (Taggiasca olives are a particular variety of olive tree typical of this area). This precious fruit has always influenced life, the economy, and cuisine.

To celebrate the extra virgin olive oil, Imperia hosts every year 'Olioliva'. This great event offers the best of local gastronomy but also various moments dedicated to entertainment and culture.

November 6-8, 2026, the historic centre of Oneglia, in the province of Imperia, will be transformed into a showcase where local companies will propose Ligurian agrifood excellence. The programme includes visits to farms and oil mills, tastings and tours, and many cultural meetings, exhibitions, cooking workshops and entertainment for young and old.

Save the date:

Olioliva, Imperia, November 6-8, 2026

On the heights of Romagna is a charming medieval village called Talamello which, in addition to the beauty of the historic centre, offers the opportunity to take beautiful walks to discover the surrounding nature. The hamlet is famous for producing 'formaggio di fossa'(pit cheese), a delicacy that derives from a tradition introduced in the Middle Ages.

The name of this typical cheese product derives from the fact that, during August, the cheese is placed in underground pits dug into the rock and then pulled out in November, when it has finished maturing, precisely on the occasion of the 'Fiera del Formaggio di Fossa' (Fossa Cheese Fair).

During these days, the village's streets will come alive with food stands offering typical quality products from all over Italy and, for the curious, it will be possible to watch the 'sfossatura' of the cheese (the moment when it is dug out).

The Fair: The Amber of Talamello will take place on Sunday 15 and Sunday 22 November 2026 in the historic center and in Piazza Garibaldi in Talamello.

The village of Chianni lies in the province of Pisa, in an area surrounded by low mountains and chestnut woods.

Wild boar hunting is widespread in these forests, and since 1976 one of the most popular festivals in Tuscany has been celebrated every year in November.

The Sagra del Cinghiale di Chianni (Wild Boar Festival) includes a series of lunches and dinners to highlight the Chianni area and its cuisine linked to hunting and agriculture. These days, traditional flavours, folkloric parades and live music will enliven the village streets. 

The festival will be held from November 5th to 8th and from November 12th to 15th, 2026.

Cremona is a city in Lombardy with a beautiful old town centre. It is famous for its violin-making tradition (the Stradivari collection at the Violin Museum is very important, testifying to the city's cultural heritage) and for its 'torrone' production.

The Festa del Torrone (Nougat Festival) is one of the most popular festivals of the year and is dedicated to this iconic regional delicacy, that is one of the most classic Christmas sweets, made with almonds, honey, sugar and egg whites.

On this occasion, from November 7 to 22, 2026, masters and producers from all over Italy will perform in a week t full of appointments, gastronomic challenges, guided tastings and much more. Not to be missed are the maxi Nougat Constructions, the Golden Nougat, the Historical Re-enactment of the Marriage between Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza, and the Final Show.

Save the date:

Torrone Festival from November 7th to 22nd, 2026

Let's return to Tuscany, this time in the municipality of Castelfranco di Sotto in the province of Pisa. The Chianina is an Italian cattle breed typical of specific areas of Tuscany, renowned for the excellent quality of its meat. The famous local 'Sagra del Porcino e della Chianina' (Porcini Mushroom and Chianina Meat Festival) was born to safeguard gastronomic traditions in an area where the industrial vocation is becoming more and more established.

There is no better occasion to taste delicious traditional dishes, almost all based on Chianina, such as fresh tortelli (a type of stuffed pasta with a rectangular or square shape) and various types of pasta with Chianina meat sauce, Chianina hamburger, Chianina roast beef and numerous dishes based on porcini mushrooms. 

The festival will take place over several autumn weekends from October 3rd to November 1st 2026. 

Bagna cauda is a gastronomic speciality of Piedmont whose name translates as 'hot sauce'. It is a typical autumn and winter dish, prepared with garlic and desalted and boned anchovies. It is simmered in olive oil and becomes a sauce eaten by dipping various types of raw and cooked seasonal vegetables.

In Asti, Bagna Cauda Day takes place during the autumn. It is an event that, , in 2026 it will take place on the weekends of November 20-21-22 and November 27-28-29.

These days, the streets of the city centre come alive with enthusiasts of the tasty culinary speciality and numerous initiatives. Still, the event does not stop there: it is as if thousands of people in different locations in Italy and the rest of the world were symbolically eating together. 

Save the date:

Bagna Cauda Day 20-21-22 November and 27-28-29 November 2026.

Cologna Veneta is a municipality in the province of Verona in the Veneto region, known in Italy and abroad for its 'mandorlato', a refined Christmas cake whose origins date back to the first half of the 19th century.

Its invention is due to an apothecary who, around 1840, had the intuition to mix honey, sugar, egg white and peeled almonds. The recipe, processing times and techniques are still the same today as they were then, and in recent years several soft sweets enriched with different flavours have been added to the almond cake.

Cologna Veneta celebrates its most famous sweet with the Festa del Mandorlato (Mandorlato Festival). In addition to this refined delicacy, the event will also feature other typical local products such as potatoes and red radicchio. Still, there will also be crafts, music and shows for young and old. 

The 42nd Mandorlato Festival of Cologna Veneta will be held on 8 December 2026.