One of the things I loved the most about growing up in Italy was going to sagre with my family. My Florentine babbo would wake my brother and me up on a Sunday morning and tell us to get dressed quickly, because we were about to pile into the car and, for example, drive over an hour to eat chestnuts at the Sagra delle Castagne up in Marradi, Tuscany.

But what is a sagra? Also referred to as fiere or feste di paese, sagre are food fairs that happen about once a year in small towns all over Italy. They can last anywhere from a single day to a couple of weeks, and sometimes they also involve parades, competitions, historical re-enactments, or local politicians cutting ribbons. While they generally offer a wide selection of dishes, they often focus on a local specialty, be it drink or food.