Millenaria Pugliano Fair

A Millennial Fair on the Alta Valmarecchia

The Millenaria Pugliano Fair is one of the most characteristic and ancient events in the Apennines between Romagna and Marche. It takes place in the hamlet of Madonna di Pugliano, a small settlement at about 800 meters altitude in the Municipality of Montecopiolo, in the Province of Rimini (Emilia-Romagna), a few kilometers from San Leo and the Republic of San Marino. The fair is held every Monday in September and the first Monday in October, during the day from early morning until late afternoon.

Origins: The Livestock Market

The roots of this fair are ancient. Documented as early as the mid-seventeenth century, it was born next to the church dedicated to the Madonna di Pugliano with the aim of trading livestock and agricultural products before winter. Originally, it was held on Sundays; when the Papal States banned fairs on Sundays, it was moved to Monday, a day it has retained to this day. The strategic position of the pass has always made it a crossroads: merchants flocked from Romagna, Marche, Umbria, the nearby Republic of San Marino, and Tuscany.

What to Find Today

Even today, the buying and selling of livestock remains the core identity of the event, alongside a large open-air market that occupies the fair's meadow. Among the stalls, you can find goods of all kinds, from crafts to clothing, from tools to household products.

• Livestock Market: the fair's ancient zootechnical vocation
• Stalls: hundreds of stalls on a vast natural meadow
• Gastronomic Huts: the traditional structures where you can enjoy fried fish and local products
• Local Agricultural Products: specialties from the area's farms

Tradition, Flavors, and Atmosphere

The most beloved element of the Pugliano Fair are the huts: marquees and temporary structures where you can stop to eat. Here, the unmissable fried fish accompanied by a good glass of wine has become a ritual that spans generations, along with tastings of typical products from the Alta Valmarecchia. Although it is a daytime fair, from the late afternoon the location comes alive with the presence of many young people, a sign that this centuries-old tradition continues to speak to the younger audience as well.

A Heritage of the Territory

Organized with the support of the Municipality of Montecopiolo and the Pro Loco Montecopiolo, the Millenaria Pugliano Fair is much more than a market: it is an event of identity that preserves the rural and pastoral memory of the Apennines and which, Monday after Monday throughout September, transforms a mountain meadow into a meeting point for thousands of people from different regions.