The great autumn festival of Val Fontanabuona, with porcini mushrooms and roasted chestnuts
In Gattorna, a lively district of the Municipality of Moconesi (Metropolitan City of Genoa) in the heart of Val Fontanabuona, the Mostra del Fungo e Sagra della Ballotta has been the festival celebrating the arrival of autumn for decades. Now well beyond its thirty-eighth edition, it is organised by the Gattorna Bassa Neighbourhood Festival Committee with the patronage of the Municipality.
The festival celebrates the fruits of the Apennine autumn. The food stalls offer polenta with mushroom sauce, cheese focaccia, fried mushrooms, and sweet chestnut fritters. The highlight is the free distribution of mushrooms and ballotte (boiled chestnuts), which attracts a large crowd of families and curious visitors every year.
The evenings are enlivened by dance orchestras, in a setting of genuine popular celebration. The event, held in covered spaces and therefore protected from the capricious autumn weather, is one of the most anticipated events in Val Fontanabuona and a way to rediscover the Genoa hinterland away from the coast, amidst chestnut woods and peasant traditions.
For 2026, the Mostra del Fungo e Sagra della Ballotta in Gattorna is expected to reach its 40th edition. The event will be held as usual over a weekend in October, with the customary formula of free distribution of mushrooms and ballotte, food stalls dedicated to forest flavours, and evenings of dancing with orchestras.
The precise dates for 2026 have not yet been published: in recent editions, the festival was held on the second weekend of October. Confirmation will come from the Festival Committee and the Municipality of Moconesi.
Gattorna di Moconesi is located along the SS225 of Val Fontanabuona, about 25 minutes from Chiavari and the A12 motorway exit.
In October, over a weekend. Food stalls at lunch and dinner, orchestras in the evening.
Free. Free distribution of mushrooms and ballotte; paid consumption at the stalls.
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Gattorna Bassa (Moconesi)
Gattorna, 16047 Moconesi