Montefioralle Doughnuts Festival 2018

Taste the irresistible delicacy of Tuscan rice doughnuts in a lovely ancient Chianti hamlet

From 17 March 2018 to 18 March 2018

On March 17th and 18th Montefioralle, one of the oldest villages of the Chianti hills will hold an event for food lovers: ‘Sagra delle Frittelle’ (Fritter festival). A tasty appointment to delight your palate with Tuscan pastries and charm your eyes with the wonderful views of the ancient Montefioralle Castle. And since the area of Greve in Chianti is one of the most renowned in terms of food and wine, you will also have the opportunity to taste other traditional Tuscan products on top of the Tuscany rice doughnuts. What do you think? It’s a good idea, isn’t it? Want to know all the details? Read on and the sweetest side of Tuscany will unfold before your eyes... and your mouth!

Let's start from the location: Montefioralle, in Tuscany, is one of the oldest villages: it is thought to date back to the Etruscan-Roman period. It had two rings of walls with an octagonal plan accompanied by various towers, most of which were destroyed in the siege of Charles V. The remaining walls are more or less those of the 16th century, when the stones of destroyed towers were used to build the houses that still today comprise the village of Montefioralle, Italy, in all its ancient charm. While you enjoy the excellent Tuscan rice fritters, we highly recommend visiting the Pieve di Santo Stefano with works from the 1200s and the 1400s and just outside the village also the Pieve of San Crisci, one of the oldest in all of Chianti. Wandering through the cobbled streets of the village you will also meet the birthplace of Amerigo Vespucci, which is identified by the 'V' and the symbol of the wasp that recall the surname of the great navigator!

To get to Montefioralle from Greve in Chianti you can take the road to the right just before the town of Greve, it’s a couple of kilometers uphill, but it’s a nice walk. If you want you can also arrive by car or even take advantage of the free shuttle buses that, from 14:00, leave from Piazza Trento for Greve in Chianti. The Rice Doughnut Festival of Montefioralle has been held continuously since 1969 and has therefore reached nothing less than its 49th edition. The undisputed protagonists of the sweetest of the festivals in the Chianti area are the delicious Tuscan St Joseph rice doughnuts, but there are many other things to savour! You can accompany them with a classic glass of Vin Santo – truly delicious in these areas - or you can also opt for a good glass of Chianti. In case this triumph of sweetness has made you fancy something savoury, then read on: you can enjoy succulent sandwiches filled with the famous Tuscan salami. Yes, in short, if you're on a diet this may not be the event for you! But it doesn’t matter... the festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday and, as is well known, any diet is postponed until Monday!

We’re sure that nobody can resist the scent of hot pancakes! To make your mouth water even more, I would also like to give you the recipe for Tuscan rice doughnuts but bear in mind that, even if you try to make them at home, they will never come out as well as the ones of the Montefioralle festival. Like any good cook, those preparing them for the Montefioralle Doughnuts Festival have their secrets that they will never confess to anyone. The ingredients are simple and genuine: rice, milk, eggs and butter, a drop of liquor. The rice is cooked in the milk together with the sugar, after which it is mixed with the eggs and butter. The dough is fried strictly in olive oil after which the hot and fragrant fritters are sprinkled abundantly with granulated sugar. How tasty! Among other things one of the prides of Montefioralle is to prepare them without the addition of flour which, in addition to following the dictates of the ancient recipe, also makes them suitable for celiacs. In the two days in which the festival takes place, from 10:00 to 19:00 industrial quantities are fried – given their taste, it is barely surprising! Just to give you the idea I’d like to give you some numbers: the frying pan is three meters long; about 200 kg of oil are used and 250 kg of rice for the dough!

While you are there licking your lips at the mere thought, take note of this appointment on March 17th and 18th at the Frittelle Festival at the Montefioralle Castle in Greve in Chianti. We are sure that you will not resist the temptation to taste this fragrant Tuscan delicacy. What better time to visit the wonderful Chianti Hills with the rows of vines, cypresses, farmhouses, ancient churches and castles? Well, get organising and plan a beautiful weekend in Tuscany staying in one of our hotels in the Chianti Hills and, since you are there, book one of our fantastic Chianti tours: you will enjoy unforgettable experiences right in the pulsing heart of Tuscany.