What’s On in Italy: October
This is the harvest time - for grapes, olives, and mushrooms, to name a few products. But, each October, we set our sights on Umbria, which hosts two wonderful festivals. For information about everything else that’s going on in Italy this October, check out www.italiantourism.com.
Festa di San Francesco, Assisi: The patron saint of Umbria (and of Italy) is honored in Assisi each October 3 and 4 with medieval pageants, food fairs, and pilgrimage tours to Saint Francis holy sites. It is a busy, but glorious, time to visit one of Italy’s most sacred towns.
Eurochocolate 2007, Perugia: Held each year in Perugia, this food festival celebrates the artisanal chocolate producers of Europe. From October 13 through 21, lucky visitors to Eurochocolate 2007 will get the chance to sample hundreds of different varieties/brands of chocolate, learn about chocolate making, take part in unusual events, such as “geochoco-caching,” and view sculptures made of the candy. Die-hard chocoholics will do well to stay at the Etruscan Chocohotel during the festivities. Although it is a modern hotel on the edge of town, it features a restaurant with dozens of inventive chocolate treats on the menu as well as complimentary bars of chocolate upon check-in.
