Santa Apollonia Festival

The patronal feast of Spera

The Santa Apollonia Festival is the most cherished event of the year for the small community of Spera, a village in the municipality of Castel Ivano, in Valsugana, located in the heart of the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Trentino-Alto Adige region. Dedicated to Saint Apollonia, the village's patron saint, the festival is rooted in a centuries-old tradition: in 2026, it celebrated its 412th edition, a testament to a rare continuity in the landscape of Trentino village festivals.

A community tradition

For years, the organization has been entrusted to the Spera Youth Choir, whose volunteers keep this celebration, deeply embedded in local identity, alive. The festival combines a religious dimension—with a solemn mass in honor of the patron saint—with a convivial and popular atmosphere, attracting residents and visitors from across the Lower Valsugana valley.

The program and gastronomy

The heart of the event is the evening gatherings at the Spera Urban Park, along Via Santa Apollonia, where a covered area with a kitchen and food stalls is set up. Visitors can enjoy traditional Trentino dishes:

• Canederli, the bread dumplings that symbolize mountain cuisine;
• Wurstel (sausages), hot sandwiches, and French fries;
• Grostoli, the typical fried carnival pastries, a must-have at this time of year.

The evenings are accompanied by live accordion music, with Fabio providing the soundtrack for the dancing and merriment that animate the community center.

The setting: Spera and the Valsugana

Spera is one of the villages that make up the municipality of Castel Ivano, formed by the merger of several hamlets in the Valsugana. Nestled in a mountain landscape between the Lagorai range and the Brenta River, the community proudly preserves its traditions. The Santa Apollonia Festival represents the moment when, in the depths of winter, the village comes together to renew its bond with its history and its patron saint.