Festival of “La Fugarena”
….in mid-November, the Association of Pro Loco Terra del Sole, is organizing the 39th edition of the traditional festival of “La Fugarena”.
“The Fugarena” is one of the most authentic and ancient folk festivals, a great bonfire in the middle of the vast Piazza d’Armi, surrounded by a large crowd warmed to his glare, illuminate the splendor of living monumental buildings that surround the center of this renaissance fortress-city. Tying the pagan traditions with Christian ones since 1970; year by year, the program has been continuously enriched and improved – in particular the connection between sport, culture, music, folklore, traditions and gastronomy.
The festival hosts a race through the roads around the town; art exhibitions, blessings of agricultural products and finally the opportunity to purchase specialties of Romagna cuisine and wine at the food stands; and then enjoy the comfort inside the grand palace of Commissioners into the portico which surrounds the courtyard.
Among the specialties prepared for the occasion is the polenta with meat sauce, the maltagliati with beans, stew of beans and sausage, the suckling pig, all washed down by excellent wines, such as the red sangiovese, or the white Trebbiano.
“Al fugarén” rites are closely linked to pagan beliefs but were continued during the Christian is to solemnize the religious holidays, is to thank God for the abundance of the harvest. Bonfires were lit throughout the pre-industrial Romagna in order to perpetuate the old peasant custom of giving thanks for the harvest gatherings.
Bonfire at La Fugarena - Piazza del Armi, Terra del Sole
The festival of “La Fugarena” is a rite renamed: it is tied to the liturgical Feast of the Presentation in the Temple, but is linked to ancestral pagan customs at the end of the agrarian year. More recently the festival was made to coincide with the Thanksgiving Day.
With these vine-branches “thus turns on” The Fugarena “to thank the gods at the end of the collected (among the last that of grapes and olives) and to propitiate the favor at the time of sowing.
