Inland food festivals, summer 2026

There's another Liguria that begins where the beach ends. You turn around, leave the sea behind, and half an hour of hairpin bends later you're in a stone village clinging to a valley, with its bell tower, its narrow lanes and, in summer, almost always a festival going on. That's how it works around here: every village has its own sagra, its own saint, its own dish, and from June to September it's a packed calendar of evenings in the square, lit grills and long tables under the stars.

This is a guide to the ones I think are genuinely worth driving up to see. It isn't a list of everything that happens across the valleys, that would be endless: it's a selection, the big ones first and then the others grouped by valley, so you know what you're walking into and what you're going up to eat.

One thing first, and it matters. Village festivals are run by the Pro Loco, people who do it out of passion, and dates are sometimes set late or shift by a weekend. Below you'll find the ones that are already confirmed for 2026 by the official calendars, and I say so plainly; for the others I give you the right window (usually mid-July, the last Sunday of August, and so on) but a phone call or a glance at the Pro Loco's page, before you get in the car, is always worth it. Never set off for a festival treating a date as certain when it isn't.

The big ones, worth marking in the diary

We start with the oldest and the most famous. The Garlic Fair of Vessalico is held every year on 2 July (in 2026 it falls on a Thursday), and it has gone on like that, always on that day, for over two and a half centuries: one of the oldest fairs in all of Liguria. It takes place among the tree-lined avenues of the Canavai park, up in the upper Arroscia Valley, and what you buy is the garlic of Vessalico sold as a resta, that is, a braid plaited by hand. It's a particular garlic, intensely fragrant yet surprisingly easy to digest, a little star of Ligurian cooking. You go, you take home a braid to hang in your kitchen, and meanwhile you eat and drink among the stalls.

The Garlic Fair of Vessalico, the braids sold in the Canavai park

Then there's the festival friends mark down first, the Raviolo Festival of Vallebona, up in the hills behind Bordighera. Here the raviolo is the kind rolled out by hand by the women of the village, and the festival is so beloved that it's held twice: in 2026 the dates are already set, 11 July and 10 August. Two evenings in the square eating ravioli done properly, with music and the whole village out celebrating.

If instead you want to really understand the mountain cooking of these valleys, you have to climb all the way up to Mendatica, the highest village in the Arroscia Valley, for the White Cooking Festival, in 2026 on 20 August. White cooking is that of the Ligurian Alps shepherds, made with what there was up at altitude: milk, cream, potatoes, flour, leeks, raviole and sügeli. No tomato, no strong colours, hence the name. The festival is a food trail through the village lanes: you walk, you stop at each tasting, and you eat dishes with centuries of history behind them. If the idea appeals, I've also written about the mountains above Imperia here.

Two proper big festivals close out the summer, already into September, and they are two institutions. The Stockfish Festival of Badalucco, up in the Argentina Valley, is one of the oldest in the province: Badalucco-style stockfish, stewed with potatoes, tomato, pine nuts and Taggiasca olives, served in the middle of the medieval village. It's usually held the third Sunday of September, but the exact 2026 date should be reconfirmed on the Pro Loco's channels. And the Stroscia Festival of Pietrabruna, up in the Prino Valley: the stroscia is that olive-oil cake, humble and delicious, that you don't cut but break with your hands, and it's celebrated together with the patron saint Matthew, usually the weekend around 21 September (here too, the 2026 date is to be confirmed).

Finally there's a festival that isn't a single day but a whole summer. The festivals of Poggio, the hill above Sanremo, are a long cycle that in 2026 runs from 26 June to 28 August: week after week the star dish changes, and it kicks off precisely with ravioli. If you're around Sanremo, there's always something going on up there.

The others, valley by valley

With the big ones sorted, let me take you around the valleys, because the small festivals are often the most genuine.

Staying in the Arroscia Valley, beyond Vessalico and Mendatica, there's plenty. At Rezzo things start early, already in late June (the Festa del branda with traditional cooking, in 2026 on 20 June) and you come back in mid-July for the Trout Festival (18 July). At Cosio d'Arroscia, the village where in 1957 the Situationist International was born, there's the Festival of Herbs and Lavender (19 July), wonderfully fragrant. On 25 July you head up to Acquetico, a hamlet of Pieve di Teco, for the patronal feast of Saint James. In early August it's the turn of Borgomaro with the Sagra degli spaghetti alla berettüna (1-2 August), and at Ferragosto two lovely village feasts: at Armo the Sagra du Pan Fritu, around Saint Bernard (14-16 August), and at Leverone (Borghetto d'Arroscia) the Buridda Festival, stewed stockfish, with a bowls tournament (15-16 August). Pornassio, the village of Ormeasco wine, closes things with the Grape Festival on the last weekend of August.

The collegiate church of Pieve di Teco, the heart of the Arroscia Valley

Heading west, in the Argentina Valley and the Nervia Valley, the festivals have an older air to them. At Verdeggia, a mountain hamlet of Triora, on 11 July there's the Festival of the Madonna del Carmelo. In early August you eat well: at Castel Vittorio the Turtun Festival (2 August), a savoury vegetable tart, and at Buggio, above Pigna, the Festa del Gran Pistau (6 August), wheat pounded in a mortar, a peasant rite of centuries ago. On 23 August Triora, the village of witches, transforms itself for Strigora, a day of magic and market stalls (I've written about Triora and its museum here). In September, on the second Sunday, Molini di Triora holds its Snail Festival. And then there's Ceriana, the snail-shaped village: its Sausage Festival, the soussissa serianasca, is usually held around the second-to-last Sunday of August, but it's one of those dates to reconfirm each year.

Closer to home, in the Prino and Impero valleys just behind Imperia, are the festivals easiest to reach. At Villa Viani, a hamlet of Pontedassio, there's the Snail and Skewer Festival, now past its fiftieth edition (25-26 July). Up at Carpasio (Montalto Carpasio) they celebrate twice in late summer, with the Frandura on 23 August and the Sagra della Carpasina on the 30th. And on 2 September it's worth climbing up to Lucinasco, the village of the Santo Stefano lakelet, for the feast of Saint Antoninus: it's one of the loveliest spots in the whole area, festival or no festival. Around here, where the sea already smells of hills, there's also the whole story of olive oil and the old mills: if the subject grabs you, the olive oil of Dolcedo and the valley mills make a fine thread to follow.

One you won't find here (because it already has its own story)

You'll have noticed that the biggest festival of all is missing, the feast of San Giovanni in Oneglia, with the fireworks over the sea at the end of June. I haven't forgotten it: it's so much ours, so tied to the port and the town, that it deserves a story all of its own. You'll find it here, and it's the best way to open the summer before you even head up the valleys.

Outside the contest: Balla coi Cinghiali

One last tip, and this one is truly out of the area — but for anyone who loves live music it's worth the drive. Towards Savona, a good hour or so from Oneglia, there's an event that around here is a bit of a legend: Balla coi Cinghiali, the festival of music, beer and wild boar that for years got half the western Riviera dancing. In 2026 it returns to the Savona area in a new guise, Birra coi Cinghiali: three evenings at the Parco di San Pietro in Carpignano, in Quiliano (SV), from 17 to 19 July, with Italian rock and alternative concerts, the craft beers of Birrificio Altavia and street food, surrounded by greenery. It's not a village sagra, and it's not in the province of Imperia, but if you're around in mid-July and fancy a different kind of evening, that one's worth the trip.

That's the beauty of being in Oneglia: in the morning you're on the beach, and in the evening, when the heat lets go, you take the car and half an hour later you're in a village square eating ravioli or stroscia, with the music bouncing off the stone houses. Two Ligurias in a single day. Check the dates on the Pro Loco pages, fill up the tank, and go and see.