Upcoming Fun Events in Italy!

Rome Film Festival:  October 29^th – November 6^th, 2010

The International Rome Film Festival is a major fun event for those who love the cinema!  This event is a huge party with international movie premiers, competitions, exhibitions, music, and fashion.  Awards are given to best film, best actor and best actress.  It’s a place of great fun for stargazers and film lovers!  This year’s festival takes place in the Auditorium Parco della Musica.  

George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis, 2009 Rome Film Festival
Photo by connectionsprep

Truffle fairs in Italy – October and November

The most popular autumn food in Italy is the truffles and Italy celebrates this with major fairs and festivals.  The biggest truffle festivals are in Tuscany, Piedmont, Umbria, Le Marche, and Emilia Romagna.  These fairs have many delicious dishes made with white truffle (tartufo bianco).  

Photo by Lauren Gallina

Eurochocolate Festival:  October 15^th – 24^th

Wonderful festival for chocolate lovers!  It takes place in Perugia which is famous for Baci chocolates.  This is one of the most popular chocolate festivals in Europe where you can sample goodies made throughout Europe and from all over the world!!  There are cooking classes, chocolate carving demonstrations, exhibitions, and generous free tasting.  There are over 700 booths offering a variety of drinks, desserts, pastries, cakes – all made with delicious chocolates.  There are also cooking competitions with top chefs and Eurochocolate awards.  Perugia can be easily reached by train directly from Florence and Rome.  It is beautiful place to walk around and burn off the calories while enjoying this fascinating medieval hill town. 

Sailing Race (Barcolana Regatta) – 2nd week of October

This is a huge sailing race in the Mediterranean Sea! It takes place in the Gulf of Trieste and all kinds of boats gather for races. There are also night races that are illuminated and beautiful to watch. In the large boat race there are over 2000 people who participate. Don’t miss this fun event which is also filled with music, food and wine!

Photo by micny259

Other events in October include the Mostra Mercato Internazionale dell ‘Antiquariato (Florence) that is a major biennial antiques fair and the Amici della Musica (Florence) which is a wonderful concert season.

Photo by Fiorinaldo