Threshing Festival

A festival born from the memory of land reclamation

The Threshing Festival takes place in the Agro di Isola Sacra, the district of Fiumicino nestled between the Tiber River and the Fiumicino canal, in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio. This grassroots event, promoted by the Agro di Isola Sacra Cultural Association with the support of the Municipality of Fiumicino, was created to preserve the memory of the families who, in the first half of the 20th century, reclaimed this marshy plain and transformed it into one of the most fertile agricultural areas on the Roman coast.

Today, Isola Sacra is a bustling district just a stone's throw from Fiumicino Airport and the ruins of Ostia Antica, yet it retains a vibrant agricultural fabric of vegetable gardens, greenhouses, and family-run farms. The festival is the moment when this dual identity—metropolitan suburb and historic countryside—is showcased to the public.

Threshing as a collective ritual

The heart of the event is the manual threshing, faithfully recreated using vintage tools: wheat sheaves are threshed by hand before the audience, with the participation of local elders who performed these very tasks in their youth. The rest of the program revolves around this demonstration, having grown over the years without ever losing its authentic village-festival spirit.

• Exhibition and parade of vintage agricultural machinery: historic tractors, two-wheel tractors, and equipment restored by local enthusiasts
• Artisan and farmers' market, featuring producers from the Roman Agro
• "A. Borsoi" House-Museum of rural life and the Land Reclamation Centenary Memorial, open for guided tours
• Photo exhibition and screenings of historical videos and images of rural life in Isola Sacra
• Creative workshops and games for children, with the participation of local entities like the Matrioska Bookstore
• Food stalls with a barbecue area and the farmer's oven, where traditional bread and local products are baked

Music, processions, and conviviality

The evenings continue with live music and ballroom dancing, in a popular format that fills the square until midnight. Saturday is traditionally dedicated to the religious and community aspect, with a procession and Holy Mass celebrated in Piazza dei Bonificatori, accompanied over the years by the "G. Verdi" Band of Tolfa and local choirs. Sunday closes the program with a final threshing demonstration, a parade of vintage cars and motorcycles, and award ceremonies.

Why visit

Those arriving in Fiumicino for the sea or the airport rarely imagine that just a few minutes away lies a countryside with such a distinct history. The Threshing Festival is the best opportunity to discover it: this is not a tourist reenactment, but a festival that the neighborhood organizes for itself and gladly opens to visitors. Admission is free, and the atmosphere remains that of a large neighborhood dinner, with wheat, tractors, and the scent of the oven as the backdrop.

The event is part of the Municipality of Fiumicino's summer calendar and represents, along with other local food festivals, one of the most defining events of this part of the province of Rome.