Sapori della Maremma Festival

A festival born from sport and grown with the town

The Sapori della Maremma Festival is one of the most popular summer events on the northern coast of Lazio. It began in the mid-2010s through the initiative of A.S.D. Nuova Pescia Romana 2004, the local sports club, which decided to open its sports field—the Maremmino—to a food festival capable of self-funding youth activities. In just over ten editions, the event has become a consolidated tradition: the eleventh edition took place in 2025, from July 10th to August 3rd, spanning nearly a month of consecutive evenings.

Where it takes place: Pescia Romana, the Maremma of Lazio

Pescia Romana is a village in the Municipality of Montalto di Castro, in the province of Viterbo, at the far north of Lazio, just a few kilometers from the border with Tuscany. It is Maremma territory in every sense: cultivated countryside, pine forests, long beaches on the Tyrrhenian Sea, and an agricultural vocation that finds its symbol here in the melon. This frontier location explains the dual soul of the festival, which serves both traditional Maremma land-based cuisine and fresh fish caught off the coast.

The cuisine: land and sea on the same plate

The heart of the event is the food stalls, managed entirely by volunteers, which generally open around 8:00 PM and remain active until late at night. The menu alternates between:

• Seafood specialties from the Tyrrhenian Sea: mixed fried fish, spaghetti with seafood, soups, and seafood appetizers;
• Traditional Maremma dishes: pasta with meat sauce, grilled meats, acquacotta, and seasonal side dishes;
• Local products, from vegetables grown on the plains to cheeses and homemade desserts;
• Wines and beers from the bar, with table service under the main tent.

The model is that of a classic Italian popular festival: you buy a ticket at the register, pick up your food at the counter, and eat at the long outdoor tables. Prices are intentionally kept affordable, and entry to the area is free: you only pay for what you consume.

Music, shows, and evenings for everyone

Every night, the Maremmino stage hosts live music with local bands and artists, dance nights, performances, and entertainment designed for families. There is no shortage of activities for children, sports tournaments linked to the organizing club's activities, and themed nights that mark the weeks of the festival. It is an event that thrives on word-of-mouth and the tourists who flock to the coast of Montalto Marina and Pescia in July and August.

Why it is worth visiting

On a coast where summer offerings are often standardized, the Sapori della Maremma Festival remains a genuinely local event: it is organized by the residents, the cooking is home-style, and the atmosphere is that of a village fair, with multiple generations sitting at the same table. For those vacationing between Montalto di Castro, Tarquinia, and the Tuscan coast, it is also the most direct way to taste Maremma cuisine without tourist filters, and to understand how the Lazio Region experiences, in this northern strip, a cultural identity that looks as much to Rome as it does to Tuscany.

Good to know

The duration is extensive—in recent editions, it has run between the second half of July and the first days of August—so there is no need to plan too far in advance: the festival is active almost every night during that period. On weekends, attendance is higher, so it is advisable to arrive early to find a seat at the tables.