Gagliaudo tra i mercanti

Why it's special

The city's flagship autumn market takes its name from Gagliaudo Aulari, the shepherd whose cheese-and-grain ruse supposedly broke Barbarossa's 1174 siege — the founding legend of Alessandria itself, replayed as a two-day trading fair.

Programme · 2026

28th edition, 8:00–20:00 both days: the city's shops display their goods outside, alongside stalls of hobbyists, collectors, artisans and food producers, with roving music, entertainment and family events.

• It fills the central streets and piazzas, so expect road closures downtown that weekend — come on foot.
• Shops put their stock out on the pavement and many run occasion discounts, so it's as much a bargain-hunt as a stroll; Sunday is the bigger day, when the stalls spread into Piazza Marconi and Piazza della Libertà.

Gagliaudo tra i mercanti is Alessandria's big autumn street market, and its name carries the city's origin story. Gagliaudo Aulari was the peasant of legend who, during Barbarossa's siege of 1174, is said to have fed his last grain to a cow and driven it toward the enemy — proof, the ruse went, that the besieged town had food to spare. The bluff held, the siege broke, and Alessandria has claimed him ever since.

The modern fair replays that mercantile spirit as a two-day trading weekend: stalls and shops spread through the central streets and piazzas — via Dante among them — with quality goods, many marked down for the occasion, plus street food and side events. It's a browsing-and-bargaining day rather than a spectacle, and it turns the whole downtown into an open-air marketplace.

Because it takes over the centre, that weekend usually brings road closures downtown, so arrive on foot and make a loop of it. More on the city at Alessandria.