It's summer, the cicadas are singing, the sun warms the soul and Santa Maria a Monte dresses up for the holidays.

As per tradition, the most awaited event of the summer is back: THE FRENCH POTATO FESTIVAL!!!

An annual event that has been going on for over 40 years and in which the undisputed protagonist is always her: the Patata Tosca, the typical Santa Mariammonte potato... an event, therefore, which has its roots in the historical memory of the town. Unmissable is the legendary PAN, a distinctive sign of our festival, and the food stand where you can taste the typical products of Tuscan cuisine... what more can I say? an event for adults and children in the evocative setting of the snail-shaped town. MORE INFO

From 16 to 20th August, the potato becomes the queen of a festival that has been carrying it in triumph through the streets of the village of Santa Maria a Monte for half a century now. Thousands of people gather every year to taste the fries, fried in the large frying pan in Piazza della Vittoria. And they even take the opportunity to go up to the village in its characteristic spiral form and visit the Carducci House Museum, the Museum of the Blessed Giuntini (the patron saint) up to the Archaeological Park ‘La Rocca’ that has unearthed Etruscan and Longobard remains.

The festival is, in short, an excellent ‘excuse’, a valid reason to explore this jewel set against the Cerbaie hills, to climb the same narrow streets trodden by the poet Giosuè Carducci, who returned every Saturday from San Miniato, where he taught in a classical high school, to greet his father, the town’s doctor.