Sagra dei Maccheroncini Borghetto

The Sagra dei Maccheroncini di Borghetto sul Mincio (also associated with the Nodo d'Amore tortellini of Valeggio sul Mincio) is one of the most extraordinary village festivals in northern Italy — a Tuesday in June when the entire medieval village of Borghetto is transformed into a vast outdoor dining room, with thousands of guests seated at long tables stretching across the ancient bridge over the Mincio river to eat the local handmade tortellini in the village's most spectacular setting. The Borghetto festival is one of the largest single-evening communal dining events in Italy — 6,000 or more places reserved for the Tuesday of the week of June 24th (feast of St John) — and reservation (through the local ristoranti) is essential and sells out months in advance. The village of Borghetto, with its medieval towers, watermills, and the Mincio flowing through it, is genuinely beautiful; the evening festival atmosphere is unforgettable.