Mushroom Exhibition and Ballotta Festival
The great autumn festival of Val Fontanabuona, with porcini mushrooms and roasted chestnuts
About Gattorna Mushroom Festival
The Autumn of Val Fontanabuona
In Gattorna, a lively district of the Municipality of Moconesi (Metropolitan City of Genoa) in the heart of Val Fontanabuona, the Mushroom Exhibition and Ballotta Festival has been the celebration that has welcomed the arrival of autumn for decades. Now well beyond its thirty-eighth edition, it is organized by the Gattorna Bassa Neighborhood Celebration Committee with the patronage of the Municipality.
Flavors of the Forest
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.
Music and Tradition
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 hinterland of Genoa away from the coast, amidst chestnut woods and peasant traditions.
Gattorna Mushroom Festival — edition 2026
For 2026, the Mushroom Exhibition and Ballotta Festival in Gattorna is expected to reach its 40th edition. The event renews itself as per tradition on a weekend in October, with the usual formula of free distribution of mushrooms and ballotte, food stalls dedicated to forest flavors, 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 Celebration Committee and the Municipality of Moconesi.
Highlights Gattorna Mushroom Festival 2026
Prices Gattorna Mushroom Festival 2026
Practical information — Gattorna Mushroom Festival
How to get there
Gattorna di Moconesi is located along the SS225 of Val Fontanabuona, about 25 minutes from Chiavari and the A12 motorway exit.
When
In October, over a weekend. Food stalls at lunch and dinner, orchestras in the evening.
Admission
Free. Free distribution of mushrooms and ballotte; paid consumption at the stalls.
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Where does it take place — Gattorna Mushroom Festival
Gattorna Bassa (Moconesi)
Gattorna, 16047 Moconesi