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Tuscan hills at sunset

Sagra delle Castagne, the Marradi chestnut festival

Four Sundays in October in the home of the Marrone IGP chestnut, in the Apennines between Tuscany and Romagna. You can even get there by steam train.

Getting thereSee the programme

WhenSundays in October
WhereMarradi (FI), old town
CostFree entry
From Florence1 hr 15 by train, Faentina line

The festival

Since 1963 Marradi has celebrated its Marrone chestnut: you eat, you buy, and you walk through the chestnut woods.

Every Sunday in October the village streets fill with stalls: chestnuts roasted over coals, castagnaccio, marroni cakes, jams and new wine from the Apennines. The village associations roast the chestnuts in perforated pans over wood fires, and you can smell it from the station.

The Marrone del Mugello IGP is a serious business here: large, sweet, with a skin that peels off on its own. You can buy it fresh by the sack from the growers, at prices that don’t exist in the city.

The festival is free and village-sized. The only ticketed part is the historic steam train from Florence or Pistoia, which reaches Marradi in the late morning: book it weeks ahead.

A regional train among the pines
Run by the Pro Loco and the town council of Marradi. The four dates and the steam train timetable are published in September.

The Sunday programme

The same every Sunday in October; only the music and the shows change.

  • Morning · 9.30The stalls openMarroni growers, craftspeople and the association kitchens along via Fabroni and in piazza Scalelle.
  • Morning · around 11.30The steam train arrivesFrom Florence, with vintage carriages. Half the village waits for it at the station: worth the time even if you weren’t on board.
  • LunchTortelli, polenta and roast chestnutsAt the association tables or in the village trattorie; at festival prices.
  • AfternoonMusic on the square and the marketBrass bands, folk groups, the chestnut roasters at work. Many people walk up to the chestnut woods above the village.
  • Evening · around 17.30The historic train leavesTowards Florence or Pistoia. Regional trains keep running until the evening.
A brick hill town
How long it takes. One day: train out, the festival, the chestnut woods and the train back. It is built for exactly that.

Getting there

Route on Google Maps

The Faentina line is half the journey: tunnels, woods and small stations all the way up to the ridge.

A regional train
By train from Florence
Regional train Firenze SMN → Marradi, about 1 hr 15, one train every two hours on Sundays. The station is a 5-minute walk from the stalls.
A country station
By steam train
From Florence or Pistoia, on a few Sundays only: vintage carriages and a steam locomotive, tickets around €30–40, booking required.
A taxi on a Tuscan street
By car
The SS302 from Borgo San Lorenzo or from Faenza, a good hour of bends. Car parks on the edge of the village, full by about 11.

What to know before you go

Four things the people who live here take for granted.

Buy marroni by the sack

Growers charge about half the city price. Cash only.

The steam train has to be booked

Seats go within days of sales opening, in September. If you miss it, the regional train is just as lovely.

Shoes for the woods

The chestnut woods above Marradi are half an hour on foot: easy paths, but muddy after rain.

It gets cold sooner than you think

In October, mornings on the ridge are 8 degrees: one extra layer, which you take off once the sun is up.

Around Marradi

The Tuscan-Romagnol ridge: stone villages, chestnuts and no crowds.

A medieval village
Palazzuolo sul Senio
One of the most beautiful villages in Italy, ten kilometres up the valley, with the Palazzo dei Capitani. Bus from Marradi.
Hills with cypress trees
Brisighella
On the Romagna side: the Torre dell’Orologio, the covered via degli Asini, the thermal baths. Two train stops away.
Medieval towers
Borgo San Lorenzo
The main town of the Mugello, with its pieve church and Tuesday market. On the way back.

Nearby, on Twip

The festival is free. If you want to pick chestnuts with a grower or step inside a drying house, you book those on Twip.

Tuscan hills
Picking marroni with a family of chestnut growers
from €15 · Marradi (FI) · 2 hours
 A trattoria
A chestnut and tortelli lunch in a family home
from €25 · Marradi (FI) · 2 hours
 Hills
Il metato: how chestnuts have been dried for centuries
from €10 · Palazzuolo sul Senio (FI) · 1 hour

See all Mugello experiences on Twip

Frequently asked questions about the festival

The things people ask us before they leave.

Is there an entrance fee?

No. The festival happens in the village streets: you only pay for what you eat or buy.

Is the steam train included?

No: it is a separate initiative, with its own ticket and booking. You can also reach the festival on the regional train.

Which Sunday is best?

The second and third Sundays in October have the best marroni. The first is the least crowded.

Is it good for children?

Very: roast chestnuts, the steam train, a small village. Pushchairs fine, the centre is almost all flat.

What if it rains?

It goes ahead anyway: the stalls are under marquees and the chestnut roasters work in any weather.