S'Ardia de Santu Antinu
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.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Sedilo, Sardinia.
Some stay links are affiliate links. More
Add the free Villagly badge to your own website. It shows visitors you are listed with us and links them straight back to this page.
Get the free badge →Event details come from organisers and can change. Please check with the organiser before you travel.
"Paolo Fresu's internationally celebrated jazz festival, founded in his home village of Berchidda, transforms vineyards, piazzas and rural corners of the Gallura hills into intimate open-air stages each August."
Time in Jazz
"One of Sardinia's lesser-known candelieri traditions, in which huge votive wooden candlesticks are carried in procession through the streets of mining-heritage Iglesias in honour of the Assumption, echoing the five-century vow made against the plague."
Festa di Sancta Maria di Mezo di Gosto
"Young men dressed in white habits run barefoot through the streets of Cabras carrying the statue of San Salvatore to his rural sanctuary, in a breathless dawn race that re-enacts a 17th-century rescue from Moorish raiders."
Corsa degli Scalzi
"Bitti, home of the polyphonic cantu a tenore tradition, opens its ancient stone courtyards to visitors for the first weekend of the Autunno in Barbagia circuit, showcasing weaving, bread-making, local cheeses and live tenore singing."
Autunno in Barbagia - Cortes Apertas
"Held every last Sunday of October in the mountain village of Aritzo, this celebrated chestnut festival draws crowds to taste roasted chestnuts and hazelnuts from the Barbagia hills, with folk exhibits and local craft stalls."
Sagra delle Castagne
"In this small Barbagia village, the pre-Christian Mamuthones in heavy black sheepskins and carved wooden masks shuffle in solemn file while the white-masked Issohadores lasso young women from the crowd, enacting one of the most ancient and mysterious carnival rituals in the Mediterranean world."
Carnevale Storico di Mamoiada
"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
"Mounted knights from across Europe gather at the foot of Castel Coira in the Val Venosta for three days of jousting, lance-breaking and horsemanship contests set against an Alpine medieval backdrop."
Giochi Medievali di Venosta
"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