Rome International Soup Festival

A humble dish as a universal language

The Rome International Soup Festival was born from a simple and disarming idea: soup is perhaps the only dish that exists, under different names, in every kitchen in the world. Bringing them together in a courtyard means bringing together the stories of those who cook them. The festival is held in the Municipality of Rome, in the San Paolo district, within the spaces of the Casale Garibaldi that host the intercultural center La Città dell'Utopia, at via Valeriano 3f, and is organized by the Servizio Civile Internazionale APS.

The formula comes from afar: the first Festival de la Soupe was born in Lille, France, in 2001, and subsequently spread throughout Europe, from Berlin to Krakow, from Barcelona to Madrid and Frankfurt. In Rome, the first edition dates back to 2008, and since then, the event has established itself as one of the most recognizable neighborhood festivals in the Capital, in the Lazio region.

How the soup contest works

The heart of the day is the soup contest, open to associations, collectives, families, and individual citizens: you sign up in advance, bring a large pot, and face the harshest judgment there is—that of the public. Tasting is free and open to all; every participant receives a voting token, and at the end, the Golden Ladle, the Silver Ladle, and the Wooden Spoon are awarded. There is no jury of experts: the winner is whoever convinces the most palates.

Surrounding the competition is a program that fills the entire day, from morning until night. The themes of reuse and recycling are an integral part of the event: washable tableware, recovered ingredients, and a focus on food waste. This is not just a decorative backdrop; it is the very message of the festival.

What to expect during the day

• terraTERRA, the farmers' market featuring small-scale organic and sustainable producers, in the morning;
• workshops and games for children, treasure hunts, and popular education activities;
• the social vegetarian lunch at a popular price, served in the garden;
• circus, acrobatics, and street theater performances in the afternoon;
• percussion bands, murgas, and live concerts until the evening;
• stalls from associations, volunteer campaigns, and international solidarity projects.

La Città dell'Utopia, the place that makes the festival possible

The festival cannot be understood without the place that hosts it. La Città dell'Utopia is a social experimentation center active since 2003 in the 19th-century farmhouse on via Valeriano, which has been restored and is self-managed: it hosts Italian courses for migrants, urban gardens, solidarity purchasing groups, a bicycle repair shop, and European volunteer projects. Every year, groups of international volunteers arrive in Rome for work camps and the ESC Teams project, and the festival is traditionally the moment when their work becomes visible to the neighborhood.

Why it's worth attending

Those arriving expecting a classic gastronomic fair will be surprised: here, food is both a political and an affectionate pretext. You eat sitting on the ground or on reclaimed benches, you hear Italian, Spanish, French, Arabic, and English spoken at the same table, and you vote for a soup with the same seriousness with which one cheers for a sports team elsewhere. It is a perfect day for families with children, for those who live in Rome and want to discover an associative and neighborhood-based Rome far from the historic center, and for travelers curious to understand how the city is experienced off the beaten tourist path.

Admission is free: you can contribute, if you wish, by purchasing food at the lunch or aperitif stands, which fund the association's activities throughout the year.