Saint Peter in Chains Festival and Basket Parade

A patronal feast in the heart of Sabina

In the small town of Frasso Sabino, in the province of Rieti, Lazio, the third Sunday of August is no ordinary day. It is the feast of Saint Peter in Chains, the village's patron saint, and with it returns one of the most authentic celebrations in the Rieti Sabina region: three days of festivities that combine religious rites, rural folklore, and the conviviality of village food festivals. The event is organized by the Pro Loco of Frasso Sabino, which has been safeguarding its calendar and traditions for decades.

The Basket Parade

The most anticipated moment is the Basket Parade, which takes place on Sunday immediately after the procession. The young women of the village wear traditional Sabina costumes—long skirts, embroidered bodices, aprons, shawls, and headscarves—often passed down through generations. On their heads, they carry the canestro (basket) and a large ring-shaped bread called tortaro, decorated with multicolored ribbons, rosettes, and sacred images, laden with bread, grapes, fruit, and a flask of wine. The procession winds through the historic center accompanied by the Frasso Sabino Music Band: it is a symbolic offering of the earth's fruits to the patron saint, an agricultural gesture even before it is a devotional one.

The procession of the Machina di San Pietro

The morning begins with a religious service. Afterward, the village youth, wearing white aprons and red capes, lift the Machina di San Pietro—the litter carrying the patron saint's statue—and accompany it in a procession to the Church of Saint Peter in Chains, located near the cemetery. The ritual, marked by the band and the blank shots that wake the village at dawn, is the moment when the entire community comes together.

The Pro Loco food festivals

Surrounding the religious feast is a rich gastronomic calendar curated by the Pro Loco, which in recent editions has animated three consecutive days:

• Bertollaccia Festival — the oldest, established in 1975 and reaching its 49th edition in 2025: it is the specialty that defines Frasso Sabino, served on Sunday evening along with pasta all'arrabbiata;
• Wild Boar Pappardelle Festival, held on Saturday evening;
• Sheep Arrosticini Festival, one of the most recent, on Sunday;
• Porchetta Festival, hosted on Friday in the hamlet of Casali di Frasso Sabino.

Music, games, and fireworks

The evenings feature dance orchestras, folk music groups, DJ sets, and comedy shows; on Sunday afternoon, the Carta Bianca association organizes traditional games for children, while Saturday is traditionally reserved for the tug-of-war tournament between the districts. The finale is marked by fireworks launched from Castello Sforza Cesarini, a 16th-century building that dominates the town and, with its late-medieval corner cylindrical tower, serves as the village's landmark.

Why visit

Frasso Sabino has only a few hundred inhabitants, and the Saint Peter in Chains festival is the occasion when the village fills with returning emigrants, families, and visitors from neighboring towns. It is an authentic, free festival without tourist filters, ideal for those who want to experience the Rieti Sabina in its most genuine dimension: olive-covered hills, home-cooked food, the local dialect, and a tradition that the village, as the Pro Loco itself reminds us, cannot and will not abandon.