Nemi Strawberry Festival.
I never attended any kind of fruit or vegetable festival in the U.S., but the opportunity to experience a strawberry festival came up and I was ecstatic, partly because of my love for all things strawberry and because I am in Italy and this is a once or maybe twice in a lifetime experience. My dear friend Manuela, along with her two friends Sara and Claudia who I became acquainted with that day, planned a day trip to Nemi, to see the festival. Nemi is a small, beautiful, hill town outside of Rome that overlooks Nemi Lake and is surrounded by the Alban hills. By train, it takes about an hour to get to the nearest stop and then if you are fortunate enough to have a friend with a car, only a ten minute drive from there. The town has held this annual strawberry festival since World War 1 making the residents of Nemi strawberry experts, and the festival a sight to be seen.
[All of these photos were taken on my phone, so overlook the less than impressive quality]
Claudia & Manuela at Lunch
Traditional Antipasto, or as we call it, Appetizers. Fried Zucchini and peppers, Bruschetta, Porchetta, bread, Eggplant, and Mozzarella di Bufala (Mozzerella from the buffalo) The Antipasto here is amazing
Strawberry Crafts
Traditional Dress
Sara, Claudia, Manuela, & Elizabeth lookin good
At the Overlook
The Nemi residents adorned the town in flowers, even the water fountain was properly festive.
The Hilltowns often have a small castle, tower, or wall, this is part of the exterior wall.
So many strawberry choices....
Wall Art
Enjoying the strawberries given to us from the parade.
The parade which marches through the town a few times (because it is a very small town) wears the traditional dress, passes out strawberries and does a little dancing as well.
Old photographs were hung up all along the town streets from past strawberry festivals
These are the Nemi grown strawberries, which are actually quite tiny. They are called Fragoline di Bosco which means small strawberries of the forest. They taste like sweet tarts.
Strawberry Tart
The town
It was a fun, cultural experience, and stay posted to see pictures from the flower festival next.
I took this picture when we got home, this is the actual size of a Nemi strawberrry
