Anise Donut Festival

A festival scented with anise

The Anise Donut Festival is the longest-running and most cherished event in Poggio Nativo, a small town in the province of Rieti, in the heart of the Lazio Sabina. The absolute star is a simple, ancient pastry: the anise donut, hand-kneaded, left to rise for a long time, and finally baked in the community's ancient wood-fired oven. Here, this flavor has never been just a recipe; it is a family memory, of ovens lit at night and women passing down their craft from generation to generation.

The link to the Assumption Patronal Feast

The festival did not start as a standalone event: it is the delicious highlight of the patronal celebrations dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption, which traditionally take place in the first half of August. On August 15th, Ferragosto, the village hosts the procession in honor of the Assumption, winding through the narrow, stepped streets of the historic center. The following day, the festivities move to the tables and squares, with the distribution of donuts and the conviviality that characterizes village festivals in the Sabina region.

Re-enactments and traditional costumes

One of the most recognizable elements of the event is the presence of re-enactments in traditional attire: groups in costume recreate the gestures and trades of Sabina peasant life, from preparing the dough to transporting the donuts to the oven. It is a way to tell, without rhetoric, how the community was organized before bread and pastries were bought in shops.

More than just donuts

During the patronal feast period, Poggio Nativo also hosts two other popular gastronomic festivals that complete the week's offerings:

• Gnocchi al Castrato Festival, a staple of Sabina cuisine
• Fregnacce Festival, the hand-rolled pasta typical of the Rieti area
• Open-air evenings, live music, and dancing in the square
• Activities dedicated to children and families

The village hosting the festival

Poggio Nativo stretches across a rocky spur overlooking the Farfa Valley, about 57 kilometers from Rome, in the Lazio Region. The historic center preserves a medieval "fishbone" layout, with narrow alleys and stairways that suddenly open onto glimpses of the countryside. The main monument is the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, which houses a Renaissance baptismal font.

Nearby, the monastic complex of San Paolo, founded in the mid-13th century for Benedictine nuns and later renovated by Franciscan friars, is worth a detour, as is the Grotta di Battifratta, a prehistoric archaeological site where a seven-thousand-year-old Neolithic clay figurine was discovered. A few kilometers away lies Santacittarama, the first Theravada Buddhist monastery in Italy, active since 1990. The area is also crossed by the St. Francis Way.

The taste of Sabina

The municipality of Poggio Nativo is known primarily for two agricultural excellences: Sabina PDO extra virgin olive oil and cherries. Those who come for the festival almost always take a tour among local producers: Sabina oil is one of the oldest in Italy to bear the Protected Designation of Origin, and it naturally accompanies the festival tables.

Why visit

The Anise Donut Festival is not an event built for tourism; it is an authentic village feast where outsiders are simply welcomed. For a visitor staying in Rome or Rieti, it is an opportunity to discover a Sabina far from the crowded circuits, with a pastry that is still eaten warm, fresh out of the wood-fired oven.