Our first Festa del Vino makes us proud to be from Montecarlo

The famous Montecarlo Festa del Vino: We’ve heard about this event ever since we started coming to Tuscany in 2011. Finally, finally, we are able to experience it! It started Sept. 1, the day we arrived, and runs through Sept. 11. Normally, we would be working in Gig Harbor in September, but since we sold most of our business last summer, we were able to wrap up our work activities by the end of this August.

Dinner in the open air in Montecarlo's Piazza d'Armi--an exquisite event.

Is the wine festival everything we expected? Hard to say, since we really didn’t know what to expect. The posters, photos and news clips from previous years don’t list or explain all the activities. We had seen photos and videos showing crowded streets and people tasting wine, but what else would there be to do? The websites don’t say. Since we are not passionate about wine, would this really be an event for us?

One can order a variety of crostini to
enhance the wine-tasting experience.

After experiencing it for a few days, I think we’re ready to say that we love the festa, and we’re happier than ever that we chose Montecarlo as our hometown. It is a small hill town, but it’s lively, with festas, concerts, plays and cultural activities taking place throughout the year. But the Festa del Vino is definitely the crowning event, and now we’re starting to understand why it is so anticipated and well attended.

Here are some comments from Lucy: “It’s a great community event, well organized. People come with their families, they sit and talk and really enjoy it. I was surprised that so much of it is put on by charities. The dinner we went to Saturday was sponsored by a blood donation society, and we were served by teenager waiters and waitresses. Actually, we were served by a really cute 9-year-old girl.”

Sharing a meal with friends multiplies the
pleasure times 8.

We had the opportunity for a full dinner outside that we arranged to eat with four other couples from Gig Harbor who are visiting Lucca. We had made reservations the evening before with Michele, one of our neighbors in Montecarlo, a fortunate circumstance because we were able to skip waiting in line to order our food. It is also possible to order just aperitivi (appetizers), drinks, snacks and ala carte selections at other booths. Several booths offer wine tastings, one with full bottles and another with sipping glasses.

Lorenzo Cecchi entertained
both children and adults with
"magia, giocoleria, fuoco e
bolle di sapone."

Beyond the food and wine, though, we find many other entertaining diversions, such as art exhibits, open air musical and dramatic performances, medieval games and circus-like performers such as jugglers, comedians and magicians. Some of the local businesses have set up displays of their goods on the streets, and the restaurant tables both inside and outside on via Roma are nearly always full. We also took our friends on a tour of the city that included the Fortezza di Montecarlo and the exquisite Teatro dei Rassicurati, built in the 1800s.

Our visiting friends took advantage of the chance to play some medieval games, shooting arrows at targets for a chance to win a bottle of vino.

“It’s nice that they have entertainers for both adults and kids,” Lucy said. “It’s well policed and had an ambulance on site. You don’t feel any fears that there will be pick-pockets or any kind of danger.”

The Orchestra Filarmonica di Montecarlo performs in the courtyard of the Istituto Pelligrini Carmignani.

All in all, it makes us proud to be Montecarlesi, and especially to have a house right on the main street so we can zip back to use the bathroom or get a sweater if the night air becomes chilly. Yes, it’s likely we will try to come here often in September, and we’ll proudly show off our town and festa to any visitors who care to join us.