Pappardelle with Hare Sauce Festival

A festival dedicated to a dish with character

In the hamlet of Acquaviva, within the municipality of Nerola (Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio), the Sabina culinary tradition is expressed through a dish with a bold character: pappardelle with hare sauce. Every spring, this specialty becomes the focus of the village's most anticipated event, a festival that attracts visitors from the Roman Sabina, the Tiber Valley, and the neighboring province of Rieti.

The dish: egg pasta and game

Pappardelle are wide-ribbon egg pasta, hand-rolled and cut, capable of holding hearty sauces. The hare sauce belongs to the game-based cuisine of the central Apennines: meat cooked slowly, seasoned with red wine, garden herbs, and forest aromatics, resulting in a dense, fragrant ragù. It is a dish born from seasonality and the domestic economy of farming families, where nothing was wasted and hunting was a vital food resource.

How the day unfolds

The food stalls are the heart of the festival. Tastings begin at noon and continue throughout the afternoon, with table service set up in the hamlet's common areas. Alongside the signature dish, you will find other local traditional preparations, wines from the Colli, and homemade desserts. The event is enriched by music and entertainment, which accompany lunch and enliven the afternoon until evening.

Who organizes it

The event is managed by the local Pro Loco, with the hard work of the hamlet's volunteers: they are the ones who prepare the pappardelle, manage the kitchen, and set up the festival grounds. It is a model common throughout inland Lazio, where village associations are the true engine of popular festivals and the most effective guardians of traditional recipes.

Nerola and the Roman Sabina

Nerola is a village of a few thousand inhabitants perched on the hills of Sabina, recognizable from afar by its Orsini Castle, now converted into a hospitality venue. The municipal territory includes the hamlet of Acquaviva, which retains an intact rural fabric and views over the countryside cultivated with olive groves. The area is known for its Sabina PDO extra virgin olive oil, one of the symbolic products of Lazio, and for a series of festivals held throughout the year.

• Municipality: Nerola, hamlet of Acquaviva
• Province: Rome (Metropolitan City of Rome)
• Region: Lazio
• Featured dish: pappardelle with hare sauce
• Stall opening: from 12:00 PM

Not to be confused

In the main town of Nerola, a different event, the Wild Boar Ragù Pappardelle Festival, is held on a separate spring date, organized by a different local association. These are two distinct events with different locations, dates, and organizers: the one in Acquaviva is specifically dedicated to hare sauce.

Why it's worth the trip

Those looking for a commercialized festival will be surprised: there are no large stages or ticket offices here. Instead, there is a hamlet that opens its streets, a dish not easily found in restaurants, and a day in the open air less than an hour from Rome. For those visiting Lazio outside the classic circuits, it is a genuine opportunity to understand how people really eat in Sabina.