Festa Patronale di Carentino — Santa Maria Assunta
Carentino's patronal feast for Santa Maria Assunta, the village's patron: a mid-August festa run by the Pro Loco Carentinese around Ferragosto, with village-wide dinners — trofie al pesto the headline dish — tombola and entertainment for all ages.
Why it's special
It's the one big date on this small rural village's calendar — the whole comune turns out for its patron saint across a few days in mid-August, the way Piedmontese villages have always marked Ferragosto.
Programme · 2026
Run by the Pro Loco Carentinese Aps from the association's headquarters, mixing food, games and entertainment for all ages. Village dinners with trofie al pesto as the headline dish. Tombola and evening entertainment across the festa days.
- The festa is run from the Pro Loco Carentinese's own headquarters — the dinners are the heart of it, so book or arrive early for the trofie al pesto.
- It's a genuinely local affair, not a tourist event.
For a village as small as Carentino, the festa patronale is the year's big date. The parish church is dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, and the comune celebrates its patron in mid-August, around Ferragosto (15 August) — the way villages across the Monferrato and Piemonte have always marked high summer.
The Pro Loco Carentinese runs it from the association's own headquarters: a few days of village dinners, tombola and entertainment for all ages. The kitchens' headline dish is trofie al pesto, a nod to the Ligurian coast just over the hills. It's a genuinely local affair rather than a tourist draw — which is exactly the appeal if you want to see how a small Alessandria-province village keeps its patronal tradition.
Dates fall around 15 August each year; the 2026 festa ran through Sunday 16 August. See Carentino for the village itself, out in the truffle country between Acqui Terme and Nizza Monferrato.