In Puglia, October is the month of cardoncello mushrooms, new olive oil and olives. Here are the October 2026 village food festivals and feasts, week by week, only those whose dates are confirmed by the organisers or the local press. The list is kept up to date: festivals still awaiting confirmation are at the end, without dates until the official ones are out.
A sagra is an Italian village festival built around one food: you eat what the land gives at that moment of the year, at long shared tables, often with music. In October, Puglia changes season. The seafood festivals stop and the ones of the land begin: the cardoncello mushroom on the Murge plateau, freshly pressed oil on the Gargano, crushed olives in the Salento. Fewer tourists than in August, more locals, and often right in the middle of the harvest.
Illustration: the long table of a village sagra.
How we chose the dates. Every date comes from a source we have read: the organiser’s website, the local Pro Loco (the village festival committee) or a local paper publishing the programme. Many event websites republish last year’s listing every year, changing only the year: that is why some well-known festivals stay at the end, “awaiting confirmation”, instead of going into the calendar with a wrong date.
1 to 4 October
- Gargano Expo, the October Fair — San Nicandro Garganico (province of Foggia), 1-4 October. The 184th edition of a historic fair, today a business exhibition with cooking shows, wineries and local food producers.
- Federicus — Altamura (province of Bari), 2-4 October. Not a sagra but the town’s festival of the Middle Ages, with its taverns; this year it moved from April to October because of works in the old town.
5 to 11 October
- FèXtra, the extra virgin olive oil festival — Mattinata (province of Foggia), 9-18 October. Sixth edition, ten days devoted to the Gargano’s new oil: guided visits to the mills, tastings, workshops, excursions and music.
- Autumn Feast — Noci (province of Bari), San Domenico quarter, 9-12 October. A neighbourhood feast for Our Lady of the Rosary and the Holy Physicians, now in its fourth edition.
- Birramilandia — Terlizzi (province of Bari), 10-11 October. A beer festival, free entry.
- Oktober Fesct — San Michele Salentino (province of Brindisi), between 9 and 25 October. A beer festival: the evenings open to the public have not been published yet, so check before you go.
12 to 18 October
- Sagra de la Volìa Cazzata — Martano (province of Lecce), 15-18 October. The 35th edition of the crushed-olive festival, with a tasting lunch on Sunday 18 at 1 pm, booking required.
- National Calzone Festival — Acquaviva delle Fonti (province of Bari), 16-18 October, 55th edition.
- Cardoncello Mushroom Festival — Poggiorsini (province of Bari), 17-18 October. The first stop of “Cardoncello on the road”, the tour of cardoncello festivals across the Murge.
19 to 25 October
- Cardoncello Mushroom Festival — Minervino Murge (province of Barletta-Andria-Trani), 24-25 October, 31st edition.
In November, the cardoncello tour goes on. The other stops of “Cardoncello on the road” are Spinazzola (7-8 November), Ruvo di Puglia (14-15), Gravina in Puglia (21-22) and Cassano delle Murge (28-29). To taste the mushroom at home, try our cardoncelli mushrooms au gratin; for the new oil, read our page on Apulian olive oil.
Awaiting confirmation
These festivals usually take place in October, but for 2026 we have not yet found the dates on the organiser’s website or in a local source. We will add them as soon as they are published:
- Olive Festival — Sannicandro di Bari
- Bacco per Bacco, primitivo wine and roast chestnuts — Turi
- Autumn and forgotten fruits festival — Castellana Grotte
- Festa de lu Porcu Meu — Muro Leccese
- Pomegranate festival — Palmariggi
- San Vito Fair — Ortelle
- San Francesco Fair — Scorrano
- Festa della Paranza — Lesina
- Puglia Cake Festival — Trani
For the province of Taranto we have not found, so far, any October festival with confirmed dates.
For the bigger events of the year, from the Notte della Taranta onwards, see our festivals in Puglia.
