Ceriana is a jewel of the Italian Riviera hinterland. Just fifteen kilometres from Sanremo, the medieval stone town is surrounded by the Maritime Alps, with dense forests, vineyards and olive groves in all directions. Every August, it throws a massive party in honour of its famous sausage - "salsiccia di Ceriana".
The two-day festival is catered by the four confraternities of the town. The orders are (very vaguely) religious in origin, but in fact they are more like social clubs. At the festival they each barbecue sausages and serve with fresh bread and different sauces. The Green confraternity flavours sausages with green chimichurri sauce. The Reds serve sausage in a tomato ragú while the Black confraternity applies lashings of dark olive tapenade from local Taggiasche olives. The Blue team thankfully does not opt for a blue sauce, but instead serves sausages in a meaty broth.
The recipe for Ceriana sausage is a closely guarded secret held by just a few families. We can guess at the ingredients: principally, it is pork meat. There is definitely garlic in the sausages, and generous amounts of herbs such as rosemary. Paprika or possibly chilli flakes add a bit of heat to the sausages.
There is plenty of fare for vegetarians too at the festival, including cakes made with this valley's renowned yellow peaches, and bruschetta with fresh oxheart (cuor di bue) tomatoes and basil leaves. Beer and wine tents are dotted around town (the local rossese wine is a favourite), and the main square holds a stage with various entertainment acts playing until late in the evening.
But perhaps the key to the success of the annual Sausage Festival is how well-attended it is. Not only do all the town's 1,300 full-time residents participate, but thousands more drive up to Ceriana from the coast, including from the French Côte d'Azur. Hundreds of families from Northern Europe keep holiday homes in Ceriana, and August is their favoured time to visit. Everyone is in high spirits. Ceriana is normally a quiet little hamlet, so seeing it transformed into a buzzing festival site for one weekend is a pleasure.
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