Thanksgiving Festival

A celebration of the earth's bounty

The Thanksgiving Festival is the autumn event where Villa Santa Maria, in the province of Chieti, gives thanks to the land for its harvest. Inspired by the National Thanksgiving Day promoted by Coldiretti—the annual occasion when the Italian agricultural world celebrates the harvest in November—the event brings a day dedicated to the history, culture, sounds, and flavors of the Abruzzo hinterland to the historic center of the village.

What to experience in the village streets

The streets and small squares of the village come alive with stalls and displays curated by local artisans, producers, and associations. Highlights of the festival include:

• Artistic crafts: stands featuring handmade goods from local masters and workshops;
• Agricultural exhibitions: the finest produce from the fields and gardens of the Upper Sangro valley on public display;
• Food and wine tastings: samplings of local flavors, in a village whose fame is inextricably linked to the culinary arts;
• Archival photo exhibition: a evocative display of images documenting rural traditions and the way of life in the past.

Villa Santa Maria, the Home of Chefs

It is no coincidence that a festival dedicated to taste and the land chose this village. Villa Santa Maria is known throughout Italy as the home of chefs: it is the seat of the historic Hotel Management Institute that has trained world-famous chefs, and the village is the birthplace of Saint Francis Caracciolo, the patron saint of Italian chefs. Nestled on the southern slopes of Monte Vecchio, on the left bank of the Sangro River, the town preserves a compact historic center overlooked by the characteristic rock formation known as La Penna.

A tradition that renews itself

Now in its seventeenth year, the Thanksgiving Festival has become a staple of the local autumn, successfully blending the agricultural and religious dimensions of thanksgiving with the village's gastronomic vocation. It is an opportunity to rediscover the rural identity of inland Abruzzo and to stroll through the alleys of the 'Home of Chefs' on one of the community's most cherished days.