Mushroom Festival

The Bracciano Mushroom Festival

The Mushroom Festival is one of the most anticipated autumn events in Bracciano, located in the heart of the lake district within the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital (Lazio). Organized by the Associazione Rione Monti, the event transforms the central Piazza IV Novembre (the town square) into a vibrant hub dedicated to the mushroom, the iconic product of the woods surrounding Lake Bracciano and the Sabatini Mountains.

Created to celebrate local traditional cuisine and the bond between the community and its forest, the festival combines gastronomy, mycological culture, and popular conviviality, attracting visitors from Rome and the entire province every year.

A Double Autumn Weekend

The festival takes place over two weekends between late September and early October, when mushrooms are at their seasonal peak. The stands set up in the square, sheltered by a covered structure, open on Saturday evenings and for lunch and dinner on Sundays, offering visitors the chance to enjoy dishes in a festive, family-friendly atmosphere.

The Hearty Cuisine of the Monticiani

The heart of the festival is the food stand, which brings the so-called cucina buona dei Monticiani (the good cooking of the Monticiani) to the table, prepared by the district's volunteers. The menu revolves around mushrooms, featured in many traditional local variations:

• Porcini mushroom fettuccine, often enriched with chestnuts from the surrounding woods;
• Mushroom soups and broths;
• Fried porcini and sautéed mushrooms;
• Meat stew with mixed mushrooms and bruschetta;
• Local desserts and typical products.

The dishes are paired with wines and the genuine flavors of the Lazio countryside, in a culinary journey that also serves as a way to rediscover the community's rural roots.

Markets and the Mushroom Exhibition

Surrounding the food stands are markets featuring local crafts and agri-food products, an ideal opportunity to discover the excellence of the Bracciano area. The event is traditionally accompanied by the Mushroom and Wild Herbs Exhibition, an educational display curated by the Alto Lazio ecological mycological group, which presents hundreds of fungal species and offers a chance to learn about, identify, and appreciate the natural richness of the Sabatini woods.

Bracciano, the Village on the Lake

The festival is also an excellent opportunity to visit Bracciano, a village overlooking the volcanic lake of the same name and dominated by the imposing Orsini-Odescalchi Castle, one of the best-preserved manors in Italy. Strolling through the alleys of the historic center, admiring the view of the lake, and ending the day with a plate of mushrooms in the square: the Mushroom Festival encapsulates the nature, history, and flavors of this corner of Lazio in a single event.