October is a great month for autumn festivals in Bagni di Lucca and the surrounding mountain villages. In the last couple of weeks I have been to a few with Heather Jarman from Sapori e Saperi.
The Festa della Zucca at Piegaia was a very colourful event. Who would have guessed that pumpkins come in so many shapes and sizes?
Of course there was delicious food being served. We had pasta with pumpkin and other delights.
There were stalls selling all kinds of things related to pumpkins and other things. We met the lovely weavers who made my gorgeous green rug for my kitchen at Casa Debbio.
Later the same day we headed up another mountain to the chestnut festival at Trassilico, the village I can see from my terrace at Casa Debbio.
Here we sampled roasted chestnuts and necci, chestnut pancakes filled with ricotta.
We also met the handsome young mayor of Gallicano who is bringing great new ideas to the area. There are so many wonderful things to see and do in the Garfagnana and David is doing his best to spread the word.
Cascio was the venue for the next chestnut festival. This tiny town must be doing something right, hundreds of people came out on a beautiful sunny day to try delicious specialities of the area, including chestnuts, salumi, polenta, fritelle and castagnaccio.
The village is in a stunning setting and has some amazing buildings, including a castle on top of the hill, where we enjoyed our dolce.
Just before we left a group of enthusiastic musicians and dancers performed for us.
Don’t miss these local festivals when you are in Italy. Each one is different and it is wonderful to see people come out to join in the fun.
For more on these local festivals go to Bella Bagni di Lucca where I will be writing more about them over the next few weeks.