Palios, regattas and lakeside fairs
In Lombardy the oldest festivals re-enact medieval battles, and the cheerfullest are on the water.
The Lombard calendar is full all year, but for campers what counts is the summer and the villages: lakeside fairs, regattas, historical re-enactments and mountain-dairy feasts.
The Palio di Legnano
On the last Sunday in May Legnano re-enacts the battle of 1176 in which the Lombard League beat Frederick Barbarossa. Eight contrade parade in costume with a thousand participants and then run the palio at the racecourse. It is the largest medieval re-enactment in the region.
The lakes
On Garda the summer is one village fair and regatta after another: the Centomiglia, in September, is the oldest sailing race on the lake. On Como and Maggiore the patron saints are celebrated with fireworks over the water, and in December Como lights up the Citta dei Balocchi. Monte Isola, on Lake Iseo, holds its festival once every five years.
In the mountains
In the Valtellina and the Valcamonica the season closes with the desmontegada, when the herds come down from the high pastures decorated with flowers and the villages meet them with a festival. It happens between late September and early October and has nothing staged about it.
The towns
Cremona has its violin festival, Mantua its literature festival in September, Brescia and Bergamo filled a year as joint capitals of culture. In Milan Carnival ends four days later than everyone else's, because the rite is Ambrosian and keeps its own calendar.