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Fairs and Family

You have made it to the last section of this trip report for our first trip to Italy. It has been an adventure. Creating these pages allowed us to enjoy again our activities while in Italy.

Federico and Filippo invited us to go to the Acqualagna White Truffle fair. Acqualagna calls itself the "truffle capital" and holds one of themany truffle festivals that are held in Italy every Autumn. We had very little experience with truffles, so this was a unique opportunity for us.

We followed Federico to the festival. Here is Valentina, Paul, Federico, and a sleeping Giulia.

Valentina, Paul, Federico, Guilia

Next Paul, Anne, and Federico.

Paul, Anne, Federico

Despite the wet weather, there was a good turnout.

Truffle festival in Aqualagna

Given the cool temperatures that day, we tried Vin Brulé. This is basically mulled wine.

food vendor

Here is Valentina and her mother Angela.

Valentina and her mother

Federico and Paul, trying to find out where Filippo is.

Federico and Paul

After he arrived, we had a bite to eat. We tried both white and black truffles. We vastly prefer the white (which, of course, is more expensive). In the picture are Valentina, her father Mauro, Federico, Cinzia (Filippo's girlfriend), and Filippo.

Dinner is Aqualagna

There was a large tent area with various vendors set up. Filippo has done business with this cheese seller, for his restaurant.

cheese vendor at the fair

Paul noted that the stands that featured local produce were packed with customers. The stands that featured products from other areas of Italy were often empty. "Zero kilometer" food, what we would call locavore food, is very popular in Italy.

We tried some wine with Filippo while the others did a little shopping.

Filippo and Paul

 

Another fair held in this time frame is the Fiera di San Martino, in Santarcangelo di Romagna (point 23 on our map). For years, we have seen pictures of Filippo and Federico making huge vats of polenta at a fair. Every Fall, Filippo recruited workers, family, and friends and runs a stand at the Festival of San Martino. Since the fair was being held while we were there, it was a great opportunity for us to see this slice of Italian life.

The highlight of the fair, for us, was seeing the Ciavarini (Filippo's restaurant & polenta mill) booth. Here they are, Filippo, Cinzia, Valentina, and Federico.

Filippo, Cinzia, Valentina, Federico

In addition to being able to buy cooked polenta and the cornmeal to take home, they sold dried beans and really good cookies to take home with you.

bags for sale at the Ciavarini booth

This is a large fair, and there were many other vendors at the fair. (It is reminiscent of the Big-E here in Massachusetts.) Some of them are rather specialized, such as this one that has licorice in many varieties. The sign says "black gold of Abruzzo." (Abruzzo is another region in Italy.)

licorice vendor

We didn't try these, but they must be a cross between potato chips and French Fries, with the bonus that you can walk around with them.

Potato spirals on a stick

Colorful spices and teas

spice booth at the fair

We bought some chocolates from this booth. The fellow on the end noticed us taking the picture.

vendor selling wrapped chocolates

Of course, various types of cheese were everywhere. Filippo was wonderful, and took us to some selected booths.

one of the cheese vendors at the fair

This next video had a demonstration of how to properly break a block of aged parmegiana apart.

link to video (47 seconds)

Back when the Italian shop near us was open, we would sometimes buy these little crackers. Anne liked the ones with pepper in them.

crackers for sale

There was another chocolate vendor, Le Chocolat de Madame Lucienne, that sold their hand-made creations. Yes, the name is French even though they seemed to be from the area. Their chocolates were lovely. Here is a video of him putting together our selection. Not a lot of action, but watching a few seconds of it will give you a nice view of their booth.

link to video (67 seconds if you watch it in full)

Le Chocolat de Madame Lucienne chocolates

Beneath a large triumphal arch are hung the traditional horns. You can see the fair continues on.

Triumphal Arch in Santarcangelo

Beneath all of the bustle of the fair, Santarcangelo seems like a lovely Medieval village. There is a pretty park on the outskirt of the old city center, with some fun and tranquil (or at least they would be tranquil on non-fair days) fountains.

modern fountain in Santarcangelo

And a different style:

modern fountain in Santarcangelo

There is a button museum in Santarcangelo! (Link to Italian language website.) Unfortunately we found them just a few minutes before they were closing for the day, but Anne did go in for a few moments. It reminded us of the buttons that we had gotten from Aunt Tina.

Button Museum

Despite all the food vendors, there was obviously only one option for our lunch. We went back to the Ciavarini booth and got some delicious polenta. This next picture will give you an idea of the huge pots they used for preparing the food.

Cooks in the Ciavarini tent

This video shows the pots in action; Valentina's father Mauro is stirring. You can also see Cinzia, Valentina, Anne and Filippo.

link to video (34 seconds)

It was definitely a popular spot.

Ciavarini tent at lunch

We were fortunate to find seats. A woman and her mother sat next to us. She said that she came to the fair every year specifically to buy polenta. She was from Rimini (a nearby large city) and taught English at a fashion school there.

Here is Paul with our very large and delicious meal: polenta with a bean sauce, and some wine.

Paul and polenta

Although we did not have any, we noticed that they offeredLa Moretta Fanese. You can see the ingredients listed on the sign below. We have actually made this at home since returning; Filippo has nothing to worry about with competition from our Moretta!

Moretta Fanese sign

 

On to .

 

Updated July 2020