On our first evening in Sabina, a region just north of Rome famous for its olive oil, we journeyed to the town of Farfa and its nearby abbey. In late September in Italy, it seems that every town and village hosts some sort of festival (or two or three) celebrating a saint, historical event or regional edible specialty . . . and they don’t care whether it’s scheduled for the middle of the week or a Saturday afternoon. We learned in a discussion with our hosts before we embarked for the abbey on this Sunday that we had our choice of three different events in little hilltop communities within approximately 10 miles of us. Since there would be seven of us crammed into one vehicle, we opted to keep our stops close to each other.

We spent about an hour touring around Farfa Abbey, a Benedictine monastery founded in the 6th century on the ruins of a Roman temple. One of the most powerful in all of Europe in its heyday in the Middle Ages (Charlemagne dubbed it the “Imperial Abbey”), it boasts a scriptorium and library, a beautiful church and bell tower. After strolling its street of medieval stone shops (the abbey hosted a rich, twice-yearly merchant fair back in the day) which today house a bakery, café and artisans’ wares, we drove a short distance to the town of Farfa to take in its Bread Festival.

After waiting out a surprising but brief downpour, we joined the locals in watching a short procession (no way could it be called a parade) of a few musicians and young people in traditional costumes carrying large bushel baskets of bread. We then  turned our attention to consuming some of that delicious commodity, wrapped around local sausages, at long tables set up along the main thoroughfare. Surrounded by residents of all ages, we enjoyed a non-touristy, authentic Italian village experience.

Lifesize bread figure, Farfa Bread Festival

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor