A thousand years on, the Fiera di Sant’Orso (Saint Ursus Fair) in Aosta is still going strong. The annual event, held on January 30 and 31, attracts an average of 150,000 visitors every year who come to browse the hundreds of stands of local artisans.
The Sant’Orso Fair combines craftsmanship and folklore in a lively display of arts and crafts held in the charming background of Aosta’s city center and around the Roman walls. Tools and machinery, sculptures, wood and stone carvings, textiles, masks, toys, decorations for the house and garden, cutlery, furniture, sabots, and other items made from copper and wrought iron are on display during the two-day event, which originated around the year 1000.
The fair is held in honor of Sant’Orso, a monk said to be of Irish origins who lived in Aosta during the 6th century. To honor him, a church was built around the year 1000, which is also when the fair began. Locally, the fair is known simply as “la foire” or “la millenaria” (the thousand-year-old). It is said that the Sant'Orso church distributed clothes and traditional wooden shoes (sabots) to the poor in the Middle Ages.
A local saying goes that, if on Sant’Orso Day (February 1) the weather is nice, the bear (orso means bear in Italian), who is in hibernation, turns around in his pallet and sleeps for another 40 days, which means the weather will be bad for the following 40 days.
Traditional food and music complement the event.
For detailed information about the fair's schedule, click here.
In the video below, you can see some of the beautiful wood sculptures from last year's edition - they are impressive!
