La Sagra del Tordello

The best thing about a really hot day is the warm evening that follows. Last night we went with a group of friends to the Tordello sagra (festival) in the town of Segromigno. This is my favorite of all the sagre we have attended and this was the third visit for Dom and I. In addition to great food there is also a live band and dancing. It is very much a family event with lots of kids of all ages in attendance and many family groups that include three or four generations.


Upon arrival we stood in line to submit our food and drink orders. The system is fully computerized and after paying you receive a slip with the itemized order. We arrived on the early side (about 7 pm) and it was not yet crowded.

After paying, we found seats at the long tables set on the lawn behind the village church. This is a large, annual festival that runs over three weekends. The sagra complex is quite extensive and includes kitchens, dance floor and bandstand, a soccer field and another lawn. Both of the latter are filled with tables.

Here is a shot of some of the servers waiting to get started. It is includes adults and children. There are no restrictions on the young people serving alcohol so one often sees 10 year olds carefully balancing a tray of wine bottles, water bottles and cans of beer.

The servers collect the order slips and then go get everything at this kitchen complex. This phot was taken later in the evening but people kept arriving and eating even as we were leaving at about 10 pm.

This young man was one of our servers. He was a bit surprised when I snapped the picture. Behind him you can see the bell tower of the church.

Here is a bowl of the famous tordelli. It is pasta filled with a meat and herb mixture and then topped with a tomato meat sauce. Tordelli is a specialty of the Lucca area and is served almost everwhere. This tordelli is especially good.

There were eleven of us in our group so we took up quite a bit of space. Here you can see the line-up of food and drink.

I ordered tordelli, rosticianna (grilled ribs) and bruschetta. You can also see fagioli (beans) and patate fritte (french fries) on the table.

The festival even has its own wine label!

After eating many people stayed at their tables chatting and enjoying the music. We really enjoyed ourselves even though all that fun made getting up for the marcia podistica this morning a little difficult.