Giochi Medievali di Venosta

"Held every year on the fixed feast of St Bartholomew at the high Corno del Renon plateau, this long-standing alpine pasture festival includes the celebrated return of the Haflinger horses and traditional farming customs unique to the Renon upland community."

Festa d'Alpeggio di San Bartolomeo

"In the vine-wrapped Trentino village of Avio, the vendemmia kickoff combines medieval music, guided tastings with valley wineries, craft markets, cultural site tours, and a national Palio delle Botti barrel-rolling competition between the Cities of Wine."

Uva e dintorni

"An UNESCO-recognised intangible heritage custom in which shepherds return hundreds of sheep via a gruelling 44-kilometre route across snowfields and the Austrian border into Senales valley, with visitors able to walk alongside the flocks and join a traditional celebration with music and local food on arrival."

Schafabtrieb Transhumanz Schnalstal

"Along the famous Keschtnweg chestnut trail of the Isarco Valley, this Alto Adige October celebration combines guided walks through the culturally significant ancient chestnut groves on the valley slopes with a village chestnut market, traditional Tyrolean music and restaurants serving full chestnut-centred menus."

Keschtnriggl, Giornate della Castagna

"On the Saturday before Erntedank, roughly 250 flower-crowned cows descend from Europe's largest high-altitude meadow accompanied by alphorn players and whip-crackers, processing from Compatsch across the Seiser Alm plateau and down into Kastelruth village."

Almabtrieb von der Seiser Alm

"Bells, Schuhplattler dancers, Goaslkrocha whip-crackers and processional floats accompany decorated cows back into the Pustertal village of Terento, with stalls offering local Tirschtlan pastries, barley soup, and farmhouse honey from the surrounding farms."

Rientro dall'Alpeggio

"Perched at 1,077 metres in the Madonie mountains, the tiny village of Geraci Siculo revives a medieval jousting tournament in honour of the Ventimiglia lords, its 14th-century overlords, with horsemen competing in the ruins of their ancestral castle."

Giostra dei Ventimiglia

"Campagnatico's spirited donkey race pits the village's contrade against each other in a parade of historical costume followed by the Palio dei Ciuchi contest, a cheerful and very local counterpoint to the grand Sienese racing tradition."

Palio dei Ciuchi

"Organised by the Parco Nazionale Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, this unique two-day world championship sends hundreds of foragers into the beech forests of Cerreto Laghi to compete on porcino harvest weight, litter collection, and mycological knowledge."

Campionato Mondiale del Fungo

"Vintage cyclists ride the white gravel strade bianche of the Chianti hills on pre-1987 bicycles in this nostalgic race that ends with a proper wine festival in Gaiole, blending sporting heritage with the flavours of the harvest season."

L'Eroica

"Deep in the Madonie mountains this medieval hilltop borgo hosts a collaborative allegorical float parade drawing carts from five surrounding villages, crowned by a masked equestrian parade organised by the Cavalieri Contea di Geraci association."

Carnevale di Geraci Siculo - Sfilata Equestre in Maschera

"One of Sardinia's most breathtaking ancestral rituals: around a hundred bareback riders thunder down a steep hillside to the sanctuary of San Costantino, re-enacting the Battle of Milvian Bridge amid gunfire, dust and devotion."

S'Ardia de Santu Antinu