Ogni anno ad Assisi, il 4 ottobre si celebra la Festa di San Francesco. Sebbene questo giorno sia una festa, il giorno dopo è più noto per la grande fiera. Questo mercato ha una grande varietà di prodotti locali e unici venduti. Ci sono molte bancarelle che vendono vari prodotti alimentari e formaggi. Ci sono anche bancarelle che vendono giocattoli, pelletteria, e abbigliamento, tra le altre cose. Se avete l'opportunità di andare alla Festa di San Francesco, dovete assolutamente rimanere il giorno dopo per questa fiera fantastica.

Almost every saint’s feast day in Italy is followed by a huge outdoor market, la fiera, the day after. The Feast of St.Francis in Assisi is on October 4 and our fiera was on the 5th.  Much of Assisi becomes an outdoor market from early morning to early evening on that day.

Booths of toys, clothes, dishes, foods, and more are backdropped by the medieval buildings of Assisi. Pino spent quite some time at a booth near the 13th-century Basilica di Santa Chiara where cheeses were sold.

After purchasing a pecorino (sheep’s milk cheese), the vendor enticed him with a cheese seasoned with red wine, aged in tobacco leaves.

An adjacent booth held salami, capocollo, lonza, pancetta (bacon), and countless varieties of pork products filled wicker baskets. Dried pork strips, typical of the Umbria town of Norcia, are a favorite.

Just around the corner under the Basilica’s flying buttresses, cannaresi (people from Cannara) sold their famed onions. At another booth, Sicilian sweets enticed buyers and you could cannoli being filled with fresh ricotta di pecora.

More than culinary temptations enticed visitors to the market. Toys, books, household objects, clothes, leather goods, pillows and bed sheets filled booths, too.

The Roman temple to Minerva and the medieval bell tower backdropped the vendors’ booths surrounding Assisi’s main square, Piazza del Comune. 

As the day drew to a close, the fiera of Assisi buzzed with the same warmth and spirit that have filled its streets for centuries. The mingling scents of cheese, salami, and sweets drifted through the air, while the laughter of families and the rhythm of merchants’ voices echoed off the ancient stone walls. Like so many feast-day markets across Italy, Assisi’s fiera was more than a place to shop — it was a celebration of tradition, community, and the enduring joy of everyday life in this timeless hill town.