Stimigliano Sweets Festival

A festival that preserves the memory of tradition

The Stimigliano Sweets Festival traditionally takes place on the second weekend of October in Stimigliano, a village in the province of Rieti known as the gateway to Sabina. It is not just a simple village fair: it is a collective ritual where an entire community gathers around the oven to renew ancient customs. The subtitle chosen for the twentieth edition, «The memory of tradition», perfectly summarizes the spirit of the event, which is recognized by the Lazio Region as a key event for local tourism promotion.

The stars: ciambellini, ferratelle, and paste tedesche

The heart of the festival lies in traditional Stimigliano sweets, all strictly handmade. In the square, you will find ciambellini di magro, ferratelle cooked on hot irons, and the famous paste tedesche, filled with blackberry jam prepared by the association's members. Alongside these, there are wine-infused ciambelline and fruit-shaped treats—peaches filled with cream, pears, strawberries, lemons, and oranges—which have become some of the most photographed symbols of the festival. Every recipe comes from family notebooks and is prepared just like in the old days, without compromising with modernity.

An association of mothers, grandmothers, and granddaughters

The festival is organized by the Stimigliano Sweets Festival Association, a group of local women—mothers, grandmothers, and granddaughters—who spend weeks kneading and baking together, involving volunteers from other local associations with the support of the Municipality of Stimigliano. It is a model of knowledge transmission that has few equals: during the festival, the village oven opens its doors for live demonstrations, and children can literally get their hands dirty with the «let's knead together» workshops. The association is active all year round and also collaborates on other village events, such as the summer festival Stimigliano in Love.

A square filled with festivities all day long

In recent editions, the festival has spanned two days, Saturday and Sunday, with stalls opening from the morning. The typical program includes the sale and tasting of warm sweets, entertainment and shows, popular tournaments like briscola, performances, and, in the evening, food stalls serving Sabina dishes accompanied by live music. All this takes place in the setting of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, dominated by the 14th-century Palazzo Orsini.

Stimigliano, the gateway to Sabina

Stimigliano is a village of about 2,300 inhabitants perched on a river terrace overlooking the Tiber Valley and Mount Soratte, about an hour from Rome. In addition to Palazzo Orsini, the Baroque church of Santi Cosma e Damiano, consecrated in 1660, is worth a visit. Local gastronomy does not stop at sweets: here you can also taste picchiarelli stimiglianesi and the fallone, a focaccia made of bread dough and wild herbs, celebrated by another historic village festival. The Sweets Festival is the perfect opportunity to discover this authentic corner of Lazio, where tradition is passed down one ferratella at a time.