Ciao !
There are literally hundreds of "sagre e feste", local festivals and celebrations throughout Italy (Europe) each year but they ramp up agressively during summer and especially fall.
From the tiny borgos in the mountains to the larger cities the festivals are found everywhere. And you can feel the excitement as well as SMELL the festivals in the air.
October is the time of harvest and most of the festivals celebrate food and wine. Most Octobers / Novembers, I've attended the gelato festival (of the world! Or so they advertise...), the olive oil harvest – obviously – as well as dozens of others. In Tuscany they celebrate the chestnuts, in Bronte, Sicily the pistacchios, and wine and ciders are EVERY where woven through it all! You have the crisp fall air and the overwhelming and absolutely delicious aromas of something cooking or grapes or olives being pressed.
It is addictive! And an absolute blast.
These celebrations resonate so much with me because it's the people of that local area doing the work and then inviting everyone in to celebrate and to share in their harvests. The festivals are certainly OF those places, a reflection of each individual community.
In Abruzzo (I love you Abruzzo.) I ate arrosticini (Italian lamb skewers) and don't remember exactly what we were celebrating but didn't care because you smell these amazing delicacies from a kilometer away since they are usually roasted over fire or coals.
I had planned to order one, maybe three skewers – they are not huge – but saw most people walking away with up to 20 and 30 skewers in each hand! Carrying that many at once I am convinced is a talent indigenous to the Abruzzesi! | 
