Belnome End of Summer Festival

A village festival in the mountains of Val Boreca

The End of Summer Festival is the event that bids farewell to the warm season in Belnome, a tiny hamlet in the Municipality of Ottone, in the southwesternmost part of the province of Piacenza, in Emilia-Romagna. The village climbs up the steep and picturesque Val Boreca, one of the wildest and most isolated valleys in the Apennines, where the mountains mark the border with Liguria and Piedmont. Here, every year, the community gathers for the last festival before the village closes down for autumn.

The Mutual Aid Society, the soul of the village

The organizational heart of the event is the Belnome Mutual Aid Society, founded on August 1, 1896, to provide financial support to residents affected by crop failures, livestock losses, or the death of a family member. This cooperative spirit still keeps the community alive today: although almost deserted in winter, Belnome comes back to life from April to November, when its children—mostly emigrated to Genoa, Voghera, and Milan—return to their ancestral village. The End of Summer Festival is one of the moments when this bond is renewed.

What to expect

The evening follows the tradition of Belnome's summer festivals: a community dinner featuring typical valley products, live music with a folk band, traditional dancing, and entertainment that continues until late at night. The midnight barbecue, with grilled salamelle (sausages) served to those who stay to celebrate under the stars, is a must. It's an opportunity to discover an authentic corner of the Piacenza Apennines, far from mass tourism, where the welcome is as genuine as that of a small mountain village.

Val Boreca and the Upper Trebbia Valley

The festival is part of a broader summer calendar that enlivens Belnome during the warm months, with evenings, dinners, and celebrations like that of San Bernardo in August. Reaching the village is an experience in itself: a mountain road, completed only in 1969, winds through forests and breathtaking views up to this nest of stone houses overlooking the valley.