Prosciutto, Local Products and Catana Festival

A village celebration of prosciutto and craftsmanship

In mid-June, the historic centre of Tolfa—a village of just over five thousand inhabitants perched on the Tolfa Mountains in the Metropolitan City of Rome—comes alive for the Prosciutto, Local Products and Catana Festival. For two days, from 6 PM until midnight, Via Roma, Piazza Vittorio Veneto, and Piazza Giacomo Matteotti turn into a gourmet village with wooden huts and stalls where local producers showcase their specialties. The event is promoted by the Municipality of Tolfa in partnership with the Pro Loco, with the collaboration of Tolfa Cittaslow and the Network of Etruscan Cities, and supported by the Lazio Region through ARSIAL, the regional agency for agricultural development and innovation.

Tolfetano prosciutto and the flavours of the Tolfa Mountains

The absolute star is the Tolfetano prosciutto, cured according to local tradition and served with local bread. Surrounding it is the best of the hillside's agricultural production: acquacotta (a traditional peasant soup and a hallmark of the Lazio Maremma), cheeses, cured meats, honey, olive oil, and wine produced on the surrounding hills. The food stalls are complemented by live cooking demonstrations focused on traditional cuisine, a producers' market, and exhibitions showcasing a vibrant rural economy defined by free-range Maremmana cattle, pastures, and short supply chains.

The catana, the bag of the butteri

Alongside the gastronomy, the festival celebrates the catana, the iconic tanned leather bag that represents Tolfetano craftsmanship. Originally created as a saddlebag for the butteri—the mounted herders of the Tuscan-Lazio Maremma—the catana is now a sought-after accessory, still handmade in local workshops. During the festival, artisans display their creations and demonstrate leatherworking techniques, passing on skills that are also cultivated in Tolfa through dedicated courses at the Accademia della Catana.

Music, bands, and entertainment throughout the village

The festival is also a grand community celebration: the marching band gathering, featuring the local band and guest ensembles, parades through the streets of the centre with music, while street bands, live concerts, traditional improvised poetry (poeti a braccio), photography exhibitions, and children's entertainment round out the programme. Recent editions have also featured celebrity chef cooking demonstrations, guided nature hikes in the Tolfa Mountains, and historical tours discovering the village, leading up to the Rocca dei Frangipane that overlooks the town.

Tolfa, a Cittaslow village between Rome and the sea

Tolfa is one of the most authentic villages in northern Lazio. Certified as a Cittaslow, the town maintains a strong bond with its farming roots and the history of alum mining, which once made it a strategic centre of the Papal States. The June festival traditionally opens the 'Estate Tolfetana' (Tolfa Summer), a rich calendar of events and festivals that culminates with TolfArte and the Torneo dei Butteri. Located less than an hour from Rome and a few kilometres from the Civitavecchia coast, it is the ideal opportunity to discover a corner of the Lazio Maremma far from mass tourism circuits.