Saint Martin's Festival

Saint Martin in the Lamie di Olimpia district

In the heart of the Itria Valley, the Lamie di Olimpia district — a small rural community in the municipality of Locorotondo, in the Metropolitan City of Bari (Puglia) — dedicates an evening every autumn to the Saint Martin's Festival. It is a popular feast celebrating the most anticipated moment of the farming calendar: when, according to the saying "at Saint Martin's, every must becomes wine," the grape must from the harvest turns into new wine ready for tasting.

A rural tradition of Puglia

Saint Martin's Day, on November 11th, marks the transition in the agricultural calendar between the end of field work and the arrival of winter. In a land of great white wines like the Locorotondo DOC and native Apulian grape varieties, the occasion is more than just a religious date: it is a collective ritual where farmers finally taste the fruit of their labor. The district, also enlivened by its Holy Family parish, keeps these roots alive with a festival that brings together families, neighbors, and visitors.

Food, wine, and live music

The evening's program focuses on the flavors of the Apulian autumn. Among the stalls, you will find roasted chestnuts, grilled sausages, frittelle (fried dough), and traditional sweets, accompanied by local wines and the new wine that is the star of the event. Live music and folklore complete the atmosphere, with fires lit and melodies filling the air in the early evening.

Locorotondo and the Itria Valley

Locorotondo, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy with its historic center of white houses and typical cummerse, is, along with Cisternino, Martina Franca, and Alberobello, one of the towns of the Itria Valley, the land of the trulli. The Saint Martin's Festival in the Lamie di Olimpia district is an authentic stop for those who want to experience rural Puglia far from the most crowded circuits, in an evening of conviviality with free admission.