Polentone Torrettese

Why it's special

Billed as Asti's longest-running carnival event, it reached its 62nd edition in 2026. It's a neighbourhood party run by the Torretta Palio committee, with the borough's own masks, Cicu Fôet and Ghitin d'la Tour, and a big pot of polenta at its heart.

Programme · 2026

62nd edition, led by the borough's masks Cicu Fôet and Ghitin d'la Tour.

• Polenta is served twice, in the late morning and again from mid-afternoon, until it runs out; you can eat it on the spot or take it home.
• The children's parade gathers at 14:15 outside the Palio committee's seat in Corso Ivrea 6, near the Esselunga supermarket, and ends in Piazza Nostra Signora di Lourdes.

Borgo Torretta is one of the boroughs that race in the Palio di Asti, and its Palio committee has been throwing a carnival party around a giant polenta for 62 editions. The Polentone is cooked in the square in front of the parish church of Nostra Signora di Lourdes and served with salamini, gorgonzola and a glass of Barbera, in two rounds, late morning and mid-afternoon, until the pot is empty.

In the afternoon it's the children's turn. They gather in costume outside the committee's seat in Corso Ivrea and parade through the borough's streets behind the town band and the Asti carnival masks, led by the Torretta's own characters Cicu Fôet and Ghitin d'la Tour. Back in the square there's music, dancing with the masks, fritters, games and bouncy castles.

It usually falls a week or two before the city-wide Carnevale Astigiano, while the Luna Park di Carnevale is open in Piazza Campo del Palio. See what else is on in Asti.