The Samassi Artichoke Festival, which also includes the Medio Campidano agri-food fair, is an event whose protagonists are the excellence of the southern Sardinian territory, including tastings, folklore, culture, sports and shows.
Samassi is an important agricultural pole in Italy, in particular for the production of artichokes. The municipal administration collaborates every year with the Pro Loco for the organization of the festival that promotes and enhances this vegetable.
For several years the event, born in 1986, has taken place in the historic district of the town and visitors can discover the characteristic earthen houses, participate in various activities such as ethnographic exhibitions, taste workshops, cultural events, taste the typical local products and buy them on display.
A commission appointed by the Unione Nazionale Pro Loco d’Italia awarded the quality festival mark to the event.
To reach this town in the province of southern Sardinia which is about 38 kilometers from the capital of the island, the Civitavecchia – Cagliari ferries can be very useful for those coming from the north and center of the Italian peninsula, while for those coming from southern peninsular Italy there are ferries Naples – Cagliari.
Samassi artichoke festival and Medio Campidano agri-food fair
The Samassi Artichoke Festival is organized annually and it is an important regional market fair (the Medio Campidano agri-food fair), as well as a showcase of local food and wine specialties, with meeting places for producers, sellers and consumers, conferences, exhibitions and tastings especially focused on this vegetable (which is mainly produced in Italy) and on the culinary preparations that concern it.
During the event you can visit the ancient Campidanese houses in raw earth, participate in educational and gastronomic workshops, listen to music, attend a conference and a cross-country race among the artichoke groves.
Program of the 34rd edition (2024)
The 34th edition of the Artichoke Festival takes place from 14 to 17 March 2024. Everything is designed around the artichoke, king of the countryside and of the Samasso economy, star of an event that combines with the historic Marcialonga, the agri-food products fair and the Domus and Lollas tourist-cultural route. There is no shortage of tastings, sports and cultural events, shows.
The Street Food points await you with many delicacies, the catering businesses offer their menus and a home restaurant with the social eating formula is also planned.
The route that winds through the historic center represents an opportunity to appreciate not only the goodness of the products of the agri-food fair, a meeting place between producers, sellers and consumers with many certified and quality Sardinian products, but also the skill of the local artisans.
Here is the detailed program, taken from the event’s Facebook page:
- Thursday 14 March 2024: educational workshops (at 9:00 am “Discovering raw earth”, workshop for primary school students organized by the Collettivo Atelier TERRApia – CEDTerra; “The biodiverse artichoke Violetto di Samassi”, workshop with guided tasting of local products for secondary school students, organized by the Laore Sardegna Agency. At 10.30am “Eating well to grow better”, workshop for the children of the San Giuseppe nursery school organized by Coldiretti).
- Friday 15 March 2024: at 9.00 am “Discovering raw earth”, educational workshop for students of the state nursery school organized by the Collettivo Atelier TERRApia and thematic conference (Financing, strategies and new perspectives for fruit and vegetables).
- Saturday 16 March 2024: Agri-food fair and promotional circuit that opens the doors of the town’s historic houses, Domus and Lollas de Samassi (an event that combines architecture, exhibitions and tastings to discover the traditional Campidanese homes and the local peasant tradition), sensory workshops, Artichoke Street Food, traveling folk group performance, musical entertainment.
- Sunday 17 March 2024: Marcialonga del Carciofo (10:00 am FIDAL sports competition among the artichoke fields, 11:15 am free non-competitive walk), agri-food fair, Domus and Lollas de Samassi, Street Food, traveling folk group performance, musical entertainment.
Program of the 33rd edition (2023)
The 33rd edition of the festival takes place from 16 to 19 March 2023. Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 March there is the agri-food fair, the tour of the Domus and Lollas, the Artichoke Street Food and the “Marcialonga” sports competition, while on 16 and on the 17th, educational workshops, a conference and the presentation of Sara Collu’s book “Làdiri. Earth, water and straw“, which describes the architecture, materials and sustainability of the “su Ladìri“, which in Sardinian dialect identifies the typical raw earth bricks. Here is the program in detail:
- Thursday 16 March: educational workshops and presentation of the book “Làdiri”.
- Friday 17 March: thematic conference “Packaging in agriculture between sustainability and innovation”.
- Saturday 18 March: Agri-food fair; Domus and lollas; Tour of the raw earth houses; Artichoke Street Food; Guided tours; Taste, arts and crafts workshops; Music shows.
- Sunday 19 March: same activities as the previous day but with artichoke Marcialonga instead of the Tour of the houses.
With Domus and Lollas de Samassi the characteristic rustic Campidanese houses in raw earth are presented with their large loggia leaning against the facade. The cultural event of the 33rd edition of the Festival provides for the opening of twenty houses in the center to visitors, who will be able to discover architecture, traditions and food and wine also by participating in exhibitions and workshops. Casa Ibba – Sa Domu de Nannai, an example of 20th century vernacular architecture by Campidano, opens its doors for the first time; in the ancient Casa Pau instead, in addition to the guided tour, you can taste freshly baked biscuits and typical seasonal sweets and you can participate in the workshop on the decoration of Pastina Reale (is pastissus), a typical Campidanese almond sweet, to be booked at web address altrasardegna.it/prodotto/decorazione-dolci-sardi-di-mandorle-is-pastissus-tra-profumi-e-sapori-da-tramandare.
The event, organized by the Municipality and the Pro Loco of Samassi, counts among its partners the Chamber of Commerce of Cagliari and Oristano, the Laore Agency, the International Association of Raw Earth Cities, the Terras Association, the Rural District of Campidano, Coldiretti Sardegna, Coop and the Mariano Scano Athletics Team. Administrators and partners will hold a presentation press conference on Thursday 9 March at 10:30 in the room on the first floor of the Chamber of Commerce of Cagliari.
The territory
The municipality of Samassi is located in the center of the Medio Campidano plain and its territory develops around a small hill dominated by the Romanesque-Pisan church of San Geminiano. The town, renowned for its traditional food and wine products and for the refinement of its cuisine, has a population of over 5,000 inhabitants and it is divided by the Rio Mannu stream. The local economy is based on agriculture, in this case on the cultivation of cereals, vegetables, vines, olive and almond trees, with artichokes representing the most valuable local product.
