Introduction
The "Country festivals" (italian: Feste Campestri) of Cortina d'Ampezzo are six summer events where you can eat, drink and have fun. They are one of the most awaited appointments of the summer,
both by residents and tourists.
The Country festivals are six parties organized by the six different Districts of Cortina (italian: Sestieri di Cortina) in which the town is divided, which today have practically only folkloric value.
Each district sets up its own country festival within its borders, so they all take place in different places.
The purpose is to promote folklore and sporting activity...
The importance of country festivals is volunteering. All the people you'll see working, plus all those involved in assembly, disassembly and organization, do it for free. The purpose of these activities is to promote folklore and sports activities. All the money earned during the festivals is in fact used to pay for the sports activities of children and young people of the district, such as cross-country skiing courses or the soccer tournament.
(1) Country festival of Mid-August.
(2) Chickens sizzling on the coals.
(3) And after eating you can dance.
Organizing these activities each district involves its young citizens, creating a group of friends who practice outdoor activities together and that, hopefully, growing up will help in the organization of future country festivals. This system has been going on for many years and works quite well. If you are going to eat at one of these "parties", and you have to wait a few minutes, remember, those who are working are not professionals, but people who want to help their district. By eating a sausage or drinking a beer, you'll allow a child to take, for example, free ski or soccer courses, so please be patient if we are not as fast and organized as a professional catering would be.
...every "sestiere" is specialized, proposing a dish that distinguishes it...
The dishes offered are the classic ones of the village festivals, such as "polenta", sausage, melted cheese, chips, beer and wine. Over the years, however, each district has specialized, offering a dish that distinguishes it, such as the famous fartaies, a sweetness of "Alverà" district. Let's go now to analyze each country's festival in detail, in order to understand what are the characteristics that distinguish it and why to visit it.
Caution: due to restrictions caused by Covid19 the country festivals and activities of the sestieri are currently suspended. We will update the page as soon as there is any news.
(1) Summer Palio of Cortina, the stump saw.
(2) Concert in "the shell" during the festival.
(3) The prize-giving of the female palio.
The summer of village festivals begins on the first Sunday of July, with the village festival (italian: Sagra d'Ampezzo), a typical event with stalls all along Corso Italia.
During the festival representatives of the various districts compete in a series of sporting events, including "the running race of the districts" (dialect: "Ra Corsa dei Sestiere"),
the Stump Saw and the tug of war.
All these events take place in Corso Italia and in the main square of the town, where there is also a kiosk
where the participants and fans of the competitions will celebrate until late in the evening.
Once the village festival is over, every weekend, the country festivals will take place, starting with the "Azon district".
2022 News
Big news is planned for the year 2022 regarding country festivals. The Sestieri d'Ampezzo have not made any official announcements, so we don't want to talk about it yet, but we strongly advise you to come back to this page in a few weeks. In 2022 many activities of the sestieri will restart, and the country festivals will probably be completely different. We can already confirm that this year's village festival in the center of Cortina will take place on a regular basis, with the Summer Palio scheduled for July 3, 2022 from 3 pm... See you soon with interesting news.
The festival of "Azon" has been held for years on the penultimate Sunday of August, but recently it has been decided to change the date, moving to the weekend immediately after the village festival
and thus becoming the first country festival in Cortina.
Considering that the district of Azon is one of the smallest and that tourism has not started yet, this is one of the most rustic festivals, but this also makes it very appreciated by the residents.
The "blackbirds", in italian "Merli" is what the inhabitants of Azon call themselves, because their flag is represented by a blackbird, are a very close-knit group and are also great party-goers, so they know how to organize a party.
The specialty of the sestiere are the Nigele, a delicious "kind of" spherical pancake cooked at the moment, so that at certain times you may have to wait in long lines to get a plate.
The festival, from year to year, is organized in different locations, according to the organizational needs. The last edition was celebrated in
The country festival of Cadin has been, in the past, for many years the opening festival of the Cortina's country festivals, so it is one of the most popular among the lovers of country festivals,
thanks to a kiosk at the entrance of the festival that is a magnet for the thirstiest. As said above, the festivity of Azon has moved, becoming the first one, but Cadin maintains an
affective value for a great part of the population. The party is organized in the parking lot in front of the
The country festival of Cortina is the one that takes place in a more central position, it is in fact set up in the
The country festival of Chiave is generally built in
The country festival of Alverà has historically been organized in the vicinity of
The country festival of Zuel is organized under the
Running races
For sport lovers, two side events are organized both at the festa campeste of Cadin and Zuel, two running races The tour of the district of Cadin and El Siro de Pianozes.
The "tour of the district of Cadin" is an individual non-competitive 5-kilometer race starting at 6:30 p.m. from the stands of the bobsled track, while "El Siro de Pianozes" is a non-competitive running race of 7 kilometers starting at 9:30 am at the Olympic ski jump "Italy" in Zuel. In both races the registration can be done on site up to one hour before the start. Please check the posters for the correct dates and times, as the organization could be subject to change.
(1) Children's start in Zuel.
(2) Running races in Cortina.
(3) The awards of the "Siro de Pianozes".
Conclusion
At the moment, due to the Covid emergency, all the events of the Sestieri d'Ampezzo are suspended, however we are waiting for updates and we will arrange the page with the the correct dates when the events will resume regularly.
Hoping you liked the page on the country festivals of the six districts of Cortina d'Ampezzo, before saying goodbye, we would suggest you to read other articles we wrote about where you can go in Cortina d'Ampezzo by clicking here.
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