Mercatino di Natale di San Marzano Oliveto
San Marzano Oliveto's Christmas market, run by the Pro Loco in the town centre around 8 December — artisan and food stalls, roving music and things for the children, the opening move of the village's Christmas programme.
Why it's special
A small hill-town Christmas market that stays a local affair: the Pro Loco fills the centre with stalls of local specialities and crafts on the Immaculate Conception holiday, and it sets off a run of Christmas events — the Gelindo nativity play, tombole and an Epiphany concert — that carries the village through to January.
Programme · 2023
The fourth edition of the Mercatino di Natale, run by the Pro Loco with the Comune, filling the town centre on the 8 December holiday. Stalls of local specialities and artisan goods through the centre Roving Christmas music Activities and entertainment for children
- It's built around the 8 December holiday, but it hasn't been held every year: the 2024 and 2025 Christmas programmes had no market.
- Confirm on the Pro Loco San Marzano Oliveto Facebook page before you go.
- The rest of the village's Christmas calendar (tombole, the Epiphany concert and, some years, the Gelindo on Christmas Eve) is under [Natale a San Marzano Oliveto](/events/natale-a-san-marzano-oliveto).
When the calendar turns to December, San Marzano Oliveto opens its Christmas with a market in the centre on the Immaculate Conception holiday. The Pro Loco lines the streets with stalls — local food, artisan work, small gifts — puts music on the move through the village, and lays on things for the children.
It's deliberately a local affair, not a coach-tour destination: the same association that runs the patronal feast of Santa Maria Maddalena in July and the summer Monferrato on Stage evenings. The market is the opening move of a longer Christmas season here — later in the month the village keeps the old Piedmontese tradition of Il Gelindo, the nativity folk play, on Christmas Eve in Piazza della Chiesa, with tombole between the holidays and an Epiphany concert to close.
The market hasn't run every year. The 2024 and 2025 Christmas programmes had no market in them, and in 2025 the 8 December slot went to a Pro Loco polenta lunch (see Natale a San Marzano Oliveto). Check the Pro Loco's page before you drive up into the hills above Canelli and Nizza.