San Quirico Festival - Corbiglia Hamlet

The patronal feast of a Piedmontese hamlet

In the heart of the morainic hills west of Turin, the hamlet of Corbiglia—one of the villages within the municipality of Villarbasse, in the Metropolitan City of Turin (Piedmont)—celebrates its patron saint every year in mid-June with the San Quirico Festival. It is one of those village feasts that captures the most authentic soul of Piedmont: a few hundred people, a close-knit community, and three days of conviviality around tables set under a large marquee.

The Romanesque church of San Quirico

The symbolic heart of the festival is the church of San Quirico, located on Via Rivoli in Corbiglia: a small Romanesque jewel dating back to the 11th century. Its most notable feature is the Romanesque bell tower with single and double-arched windows, built from stone mixed with fragments of ancient Roman roof tiles—a testament to the reuse of materials from the Roman era. The building, dedicated to the martyr Saint Quiricus, has undergone Baroque-style modifications over the centuries and remains one of the many Piedmontese churches dedicated to this saint.

Three evenings of dinner, music, and dancing

The festival takes place at the Corbiglia sports area, where a large marquee is set up every evening for the community dinner. The house specialty is the mixed grill, but the menu offers many hot dishes of Piedmontese cuisine, from appetizers and agnolotti to desserts. After dinner, it is time to dance: recent editions have featured a rotation of 'liscio' orchestras and live music bands, with evenings also dedicated to younger crowds thanks to DJ sets.

A community celebration

Behind the San Quirico Festival lies the voluntary work of the Corbiglia Insieme Association, with the support of the Municipality of Villarbasse. It is thanks to this network of volunteers that the hamlet manages, year after year, to keep alive a tradition that unites the religious dimension of the patronal feast with the more convivial spirit of a village fair. For those visiting the hilly area west of Turin, it is a precious opportunity to discover a genuine Piedmont, far from the most beaten tourist paths.