The famous Sagra delle Fragole began yesterday in Nemi and will run from the 5th to the 12th June in the Albani hills near Rome.
Nemi is often known as the strawberry capital of Italy. The season for fruit begins in May, but the highlight of the summer is the first Sunday in June, when local girls in traditional costumes hand out free baskets of strawberries to everyone in attendance.
The custom was founded after the First World War, but the celebration has ancient beginnings. The strawberries doled out the crowds are fragoline di bosco, or wild strawberries that are collected from the nearby woods. According to tradition, the woods were filled with fruit when Venus transformed the blood of her lover Adonis into small red hearts or strawberries.
The fragoline are much smaller than strawberries found at supermarkets around the world, but so much tastier. For those lucky enough to be near Nemi the first week of June, the fruits offer a small, sweet treat from the sacred forest.
For more information about the festival, as well as strawberry recipes, visit sagrafragole.it
