Rioni Festival / Rioni Palio

A tradition that divides by color but unites in celebration

The Rioni Festival is one of the most cherished and identity-defining events in Casciana Terme, a spa town within the municipality of Casciana Terme Lari, in the Province of Pisa, in the heart of the Tuscan Valdera. Born in 1975 to coincide with the patronal feast of Santa Croce, the event divides the town into four districts that, every spring, vie for victory in a long competition consisting of games, skill trials, processions, and creativity.

The four competing districts

The town identifies with its four districts, each represented by a color that adorns streets, balconies, and squares throughout the festival:

• Casina — the blue district
• Centro — the red district
• Gorina — the green district
• Pietraia — the yellow district

For weeks, the districts prepare costumes, choreographies, allegorical floats, and dances in a spirit of healthy rivalry that involves families, youth, and the elderly.

Between the sacred and the popular: the Santa Croce feast

The event finds its roots in the patronal feast of Santa Croce, celebrated in the church of San Martino with a traditional procession through the historic center. Around this religious core, a rich secular program has developed over time, turning the Rioni Festival into a true local palio, organized with great dedication by the Associazione 3 Maggio.

Bonfires, games, and parades

The spectacular heart of the festival is the Bonfire Challenge, a symbolic ritual of light and belonging between the districts, followed by the Giochi senza Quartiere (District-less Games): tests of strength and skill such as tug-of-war, storming the castle, the greasy pole, and the characteristic cart race. The grand finale features the parades of the four districts in Piazza Garibaldi, with sumptuous costumes, live music, grand stage designs, and allegorical floats that change theme every year, mobilizing hundreds of participants.

Street food and conviviality

The gastronomic and social dimension is not to be missed: throughout the festival, the Rioni Street Food and Cocktail Bar and district dinners are open, moments when the town gathers at the table in the streets of the center. It is the ideal opportunity to discover Casciana Terme, a renowned Tuscan spa town, while experiencing the authenticity of a local festival that has endured and renewed itself for nearly half a century.