Luna Park di Santa Caterina, Acqui Terme

Why it's special

The rides open a full week before the three-day market fair and stay until its last evening, so for almost a fortnight the old barracks square is the place Acqui's children want to be. It sits right at the start of the town's November run: the fair, then the Acqui & Sapori truffle weekend and the switch-on of the Christmas lights.

Programme · 2025

Rides for the Fiera di Santa Caterina, open every day.

• The rides are in Piazza Don Dolermo and the next-door Piazzale Facelli, the old Caserma Cesare Battisti, a few minutes' walk from Piazza Italia.
• On the three fair days (Sunday to Tuesday) the market stalls take over Corso Bagni, Corso Dante and Piazza Italia, so park outside the centre and walk the loop from the stalls to the rides.

Acqui Terme's November fair comes with a funfair. A week or so before the Fiera di Santa Caterina fills the town centre with market stalls, the travelling showmen set up their rides in Piazza Don Dolermo and the adjoining Piazzale Facelli, the yard of the old Caserma Cesare Battisti on the edge of the centre. It's a classic Italian luna park: rides for small children and for teenagers, candyfloss, torrone and sweets, open every day.

The pattern has held for years. The rides open on the Friday nine days before the fair's Sunday and close with the fair on its last day, the Tuesday: 9 to 20 November in 2018, 8 to 19 November in 2024 and 7 to 18 November in 2025. The 2026 fair runs from 15 to 17 November, so the rides should be up from early November, but the comune had not published this year's luna park dates yet; check the Visit Acqui Terme calendar before you go.

The same square hosts the summer rides for the July feast of San Guido, see the Fiera di San Guido. In November, combine the rides with the fair's stalls along Corso Bagni and Corso Dante, a look at the steaming La Bollente, and the Acqui & Sapori truffle weekend that follows. See Acqui Terme for the rest of the town.