Festa dell Zucca

It's time for the annual Pumpkin Festival in Venzone!

October 22-23

Italians have festivals celebrating everything from saints to mushrooms. But there are a few real standout ones that are not to be missed. The Pumpkin Festival in Venzone is one of them! It seems like a great way to kick of all of the celebrations from autumn through winter.

Venzone is about an hour and half north of Aviano. It was established around 900 A.D. and still has the Medieval walls and towers surrounding it. It is really interesting to see with or without the festival.

The festival includes Medieval reenactments, costumes, musicians, and anything you could think to cook with pumpkin! Pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin grappa...{I'm channeling my inner Bubba.}

You can easily drive there from our area, but parking really looked to be a mess. The train stop drops you within a 5 minute walk from the festival entrance. Normally, we purchase tickets one way at a time while traveling here, but since this is just a stop, not a station, we had to hunt down a bar in town that sold tickets to get back home. Then, not knowing the times for the returning trains, we had a long chilly wait at the platform. I'd still take the train again to avoid parking there. Just this time maybe I'd shoot for a little better planning. 

ITT also has a trip planned if you'd rather take a bus. Check out the ITT flier for a little more information on the history of the town and festival.

However you get there, you will be sure to have a good time!