The food festival of San Martino

I love doing this blog. It makes me learn new facts and history!

I was just going to post this: “The festival of Saint Martin is the excuse for a two-day food festa in Pietrasanta and many other places.” And I got to wondering, how widespread is this festival and what the heck is it? So (via Wikipedia) I learned “The celebration of Advent began in the fifth century when the Bishop Perpetuus directed that starting with the feast of St. Martin, 11 November, until Christmas, one fasts three times per week; this is why Advent is also named Lent of St. Martin.” Wow, who knew!?

So I guess in medieval times, the feast of Saint Martin was the big kickoff before a lean food season. Is this, as with so many Christian events, built on top of a pagan event? After all, this is a significant moment in the farming calendar (again, from Wikipedia), “This is the time when autumn wheat seeding was completed, and the annual slaughter of fattened cattle produced ‘Martinmas beef’.”

So there you have it… There’s history behind this wonderful weekend of food and drink. I went last year and bought some delicious cured meats. I hoped that stall would be here again. And it was…

It’s mid-November and the tourist season is over. It’s starting to cool down, and rain. Jackets are out. It’s dark at 5:30. It’s Sunday…and the piazza was absolutely jammed! You can hardly move between the stalls

Mushrooms, cheeses of all kinds, beer stands, porchetta. A nearby town, Gombitelli, is renowned for cured meats. The Garfagnana region is famous for its pecorino (sheep) cheeses. There was a booth from the Tyrol area with sausages and a couple from Sicily with the most intense pecorino I’ve ever had. See how dark it is next to a normal pecorino:

There are huge bins of dried mushrooms and plenty of cheeses. Why don’t you come next year?

I love being in a crowd at night is the piazza. The buildings are lit up, the atmosphere is super festive, it’s great.

And for my final photo, here’s what I could be wearing this winter: cozy, cheerful, elegant. Isn’t this so me?