October is the month when Italy sits down to eat in the town square. With the grape harvest over come chestnuts, mushrooms and truffles, and every weekend has its festival: some are almost a century old, others were born in recent decades and have already become fixtures. Here are the ten to mark, in calendar order. For those that have not yet announced their 2026 programme we give the traditional period and the dates of the last edition: check them on the organisers' websites before you travel.
The ten festivals, by date
1. Grape Festival, Marino
When: Sunday 4 October, the first Sunday of the month.
It has been held since 1925 and has been called the last of the Roman ottobrate, the country outings Romans made on autumn Sundays until the early twentieth century. In Marino, in the Castelli Romani, the most awaited moment is when the fountains in the centre run with wine instead of water (1 October).
2. Chestnut Festival, Marradi
When: every Sunday in October, the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th.
Marradi is in the province of Florence but on the Romagna side of the Apennines, and for a month it lives off its fruit: the Marrone del Mugello, IGP since 1996, sweeter and easier to peel than an ordinary chestnut. People eat roast chestnuts and chestnut cake, and some arrive by train along the Lamone valley.
3. International White Truffle Fair, Alba
When: every weekend from 10 October to 8 December.
It is the oldest truffle fair in Italy. At the market you smell and buy Tuber magnatum truffles, there are sensory analyses and live cooking, and the world auction is held at the castle of Grinzane Cavour. All around are the Langhe in autumn dress, with the vineyards yellow and red after the harvest (the fair page).
4. Barcolana, Trieste
When: Sunday 11 October, the second Sunday of the month.
It is not a food festival, but it is the biggest October event in the north-east: since 1969 more than two thousand boats have lined up on the same starting line in the Gulf of Trieste, professionals and families side by side. From the waterfront and the Karst the sails fill the sea, and events in town go on all week (the regatta page).
5. Pistachio Festival, Bronte
When: two weekends in October; in 2025 from 10 to 12 and from 17 to 19.
For two weekends Bronte puts its green DOP pistachio centre stage: pesto, creams, nougat, arancini and ice cream at the stalls in town, with bands, flag-wavers and Sicilian carts. The plant, on the lava fields of Etna, crops in alternate years (the festival page).
6. Chestnut Festival, Montegrosso Pian Latte
When: a Sunday in October; in 2025 the 12th.
In the hills behind Imperia the chestnut was the valleys' larder for centuries, and the village even has a museum with a wooden threshing machine from the 1940s. The festival is organised by the local association and the town council, and the Liguria Region lists it among its Authentic Ligurian Events, with more than fifty years of history (the festival page).
7. National Chestnut Fair, Cuneo
When: the third weekend of October, which in 2026 falls on the 16th to 18th; dates to be confirmed.
Since 1999 the provincial capital has devoted a fair to the marrone chestnut, with a market, processed products and cooking: the chestnuts of the Cuneo valleys come to town in every form, from roast chestnuts to marrons glacés.
8. Eurochocolate, Perugia
When: from 16 to 25 October, provisional dates.
For ten days the medieval centre of Perugia, home of the Bacio chocolate, fills with stalls of master chocolatiers, tastings, workshops and chocolate sculptures. It is one of the few food festivals that doubles as an excuse to see the city, between Corso Vannucci and the Fontana Maggiore (the festival page).
9. Saint Luke's Fair, Impruneta
When: the week of 18 October, the patron saint's day.
Tradition traces it back a thousand years, to the shepherds coming down from the Apennines towards the Maremma; the first written record is a seventeenth-century edict. Impruneta is the town of terracotta: the tiles of Brunelleschi's dome came out of its kilns, and as early as 1308 a document recorded a guild of jar makers (18 October).
10. Funghi Fest, Castelbuono
When: the last weekend of October; in 2025 from 24 to 26.
In the Madonie mountains, in Piazza Castello, there are two tasting sessions a day, at noon and in the late afternoon, with porcini picked in the woods around the town. Around the dishes there is live cooking, guided walks, folk parades and concerts in the old town (the festival page).
And at the end of the month
Between October and November Acqualagna, in the Marche, holds the largest white truffle fair in central Italy (27 October). In Palermo Le Vie dei Tesori returns, opening palaces, oratories and gardens that are usually closed for six weekends. And in Catania, around the Day of the Dead, there is the Fiera dei Morti, with the sugar puppets and marzipan fruit that in Sicily the dead bring to children.
Before you set off
Village festivals fill streets and car parks: arrive early in the morning, or take the train where there is one. For dates not yet announced, check the websites of the local associations and town councils in the weeks before. Every festival has its own page in the events section of its town, and the BigItalia agenda comes back every Friday.
