ANCIUE – ANCHOVY SELLERS’ FAIR 2026

DRONERO

Preview with Music, Barrels & Anchovies

Friday, June 5, 2026 – 9:30 PM

Piazza Martiri della Libertà – Dronero

LOU DALFIN

Music, dancing, street food, and craft beers

Free admission

The Fair

Saturday, June 6, 2026 – from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM

From 7:00 PM to midnight: Street Food and Music

ANCIUE – The Anchovy Sellers’ Fair

Piazza Martiri della Libertà, Piazza Manuel di San Giovanni, and surrounding streets

 

• Fair Area – all day

Street Food with great taste and local craft beers

 

 

• Schools and Education – Teatro Arcades

As every year, an area is dedicated to the educational institutions that devote so much work to Dronero and the history of the Anchovy Sellers – “Virginio – Donadio” Higher Education Institute, AFP Dronero, Dronero Comprehensive Institute

 

• Mulino Cavanna – Via Molino, 8

Open Mill

Free guided tours of the Riviera Mill in Dronero with the Cavanna Brothers. Available without reservation from 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM / 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Occitan Dances and Folk Dancing

We will host Daniela Mandrile, an Occitan dance teacher with over 40 years of experience. You can participate in the dances free of charge by visiting the courtyard of the Riviera Mill from 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM.

 

• Nerea – Anchovy Stories – Via Molino 7

Photo exhibition I QUBI by Mago & Grey – Watercolor Photographs of an extraordinary village between Cumbia and Amazonas

 

• Il Bottegone & The Schools

*The wooden anchovy – 80 wooden anchovies will adorn the shop windows and doors of Dronero

*The Anchovy in the window – discover the most beautiful “Anciue”-themed window display in Dronero – Many proposals from shopkeepers and merchants of Il Bottegone – for all information follow us on social media @bottegone @anciue

*Thanks to the imagination of Dronero’s young students, the arcades and streets will be colored with “crafts” dedicated to the anchovy

 

• Sala Giolitti (Piazza Martiri della Libertà)

The Valle Maira Tourism Consortium presents the screening of the documentary “Acciughe sotto la neve” (Anchovies Under the Snow), which will be shown every hour throughout the Fair

 

• Convitto and Via Roma

Artisans and their unique products

 

• Opere Pie Droneresi – 2nd Edition of Toy Day

A retirement home opens up and becomes a square to walk through, where you can listen to music, pet animals, play, and stroll toward the Fair. In short, Opere Pie Droneresi will be a true FAIR WITHIN THE FAIR

• Passacharriera

Occitan music in the streets of the fair all day long

Hour-by-hour schedule

 

11:00 AM

Opere Pie Droneresi

Philatelic cancellation for the project “La Valanga Nera … l’inchiostro nelle terre alte” (The Black Avalanche … ink in the highlands)

organized by MAMO EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

in collaboration with Val Maira Insieme, Poste Italiane, and I.C. “G. Giolitti” of Dronero with the participation of schools from Roccabruna, San Damiano Macra, and Prazzo

 

3:30 PM – Official inauguration of

ANCIUE – THE ANCHOVY SELLERS’ FAIR

Piazza Martiri – Stage | San Luigi Band performs

3:00 PM

Mulino Cavanna

Occitan dances with Daniela Mandrile

3:00 PM

Luigi Mallé Museum – via Valmala 9, Dronero

Anchovy on paper
by and with Elena Di Capita

Elena Di Capita, from Lavagna in Liguria, is the first Gyotaku artist to bring this Japanese technique to Italy, with which she creates marine and other compositions using fish from her sea or found elsewhere. Anchovies are her forte; with them she creates compositions rich in dynamism that have made her famous in Italy and abroad. She has several important collaborations behind her, including Mazda Italia, Paramount, Delicius, and various publishing houses, including Mondadori for which she created the latest book by Mario Calabresi “Alzarsi all’alba” (Rising at Dawn). Her anchovies were the symbol of the 2023 Genoa Science Festival, she collaborates with various research institutions and universities, and is also active in education for the dissemination of marine ecosystems and their issues. She currently also exhibits in Lugano, Switzerland, at the Caslano Fishing Museum.

Reservation segreteria@fondazionebertoni.it

3:00 PM and 4:00 PM

IIS Virginio Donadio Stand – Teatro Arcades

Cooking Show at the Anchovy Sellers’ Fair

The ancient saffron risotto from Caraglio with bagna caoda made with Nebbiolo from the Riviera di Dronero.

By Chef Marco Servetto (Professor at Dronero Hotel Management Institute) in collaboration with Sofran Company and the Mastro Geppetto Association for the grape harvest of students from the IC Comprensivo Giolitti of Dronero

From 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Civic Music Institute “Gianfranco Donadio” – Via XXV Aprile, 21

Opening of the musical instruments museum “G.B. Goletti Collection” at Palazzo Savio.

Visitors will be entertained by musical moments performed by students and teachers of the Civic Music Institute “G. Donadio” of Dronero.

 

6:00 PM

Luigi Mallé Museum – via Valmala 9, Dronero

“Ninth edition of Anchovy Figures – Apua Mutantis by Dario Ghibaudo“

curated by Ivana Mulatero and Vanna Pescatori

On the occasion of the 2026 Anchovy Sellers’ Fair, the Mallé Museum presents the Ninth Edition of “Anchovy Figures,” featuring Apua Mutantis by Dario Ghibaudo

Ten mutant anchovies in a folder created by the Antica Tipografia Coalova of Dronero with a sheet of ocher-yellow straw paper as a reference to the paper cone of salted anchovies.

 

7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Piazza Martiri della Libertà

DJ set with DJ Lambo

9:30 PM

Stage – Piazza Martiri della Libertà

BIRKIN TREE

Music, dancing, street food, and craft beers

Free admission

Sunday, June 7, 2026 – from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM

ANCIUE – The Anchovy Sellers’ Fair

Piazza Martiri, Piazza Manuel di San Giovanni, and surrounding streets

 

• Fair Area – all day

Street Food with great taste and local craft beers

 

• Sala Giolitti (Piazza Martiri della Libertà)

The Valle Maira Tourism Consortium presents the screening of the documentary “Acciughe sotto la neve” (Anchovies Under the Snow), which will be shown every hour throughout the Fair

 

• Foro Frumentario

BIBLIODÒC – EXHIBITION LA FLOR D’ÒC. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF ALPINE OCCITAN POETRY

The Occitan Library of Espaci Occitan – poetry section, with the exhibition of compositions by the most beloved Occitan-language poets of the valleys and portraits by Ugo Giletta.

 

• Il Bottegone & The Schools

*The wooden anchovy – 80 wooden anchovies will adorn the shop windows and doors of Dronero

*The Anchovy in the window – discover the most beautiful “Anciue”-themed window display in Dronero – Many proposals from shopkeepers and merchants of Il Bottegone – for all information follow us on social media @bottegone @anciue

*Thanks to the imagination of Dronero’s young students, the arcades and streets will be colored with “crafts” dedicated to the anchovy

• Nerea – Anchovy Stories – Via Molino 7

Photo exhibition I QUBI by Mago & Grey – Watercolor Photographs of an extraordinary village between Cumbia and Amazonas

 

• Schools and Education – Teatro Arcades

As every year, an area is dedicated to the educational institutions that devote so much work to Dronero and the history of the Anchovy Sellers – “Virginio – Donadio” Higher Education Institute, AFP Dronero, Dronero Comprehensive Institute

 

• Via Giolitti – in front of the Town Hall

Art.He artisans

 

• Piazza Don Bernardo Mattio Arciprete – all day

Toy Square

Microcircus – Vespas, Can Toss, Ring Toss, Duck Pond, Giant Bubbles

 

• Mulino Cavanna – Via Molino, 8

Open Mill

Free guided tours of the Riviera Mill in Dronero with the Cavanna Brothers. Available without reservation from 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM / 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Breakfast at the Mill

For us, the Mill is a place to experience: for the second year in a row we are offering a convivial moment in the courtyard of the Riviera Mill. You can have breakfast with biscuits from Biscottificio Cavanna, sweet and savory preparations of various kinds, accompanied by hot and cold beverages. No reservation is necessary, just come to the Mill from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM.

A Fairytale Mill

Animated readings by Cristina Levet at 4:30 PM for children aged 3 to 10.

 

• Ecorami Project – Piazza Manuel di San Giovanni

Agroecological farm stalls at the Anchovy Sellers’ Fair market

In the Ecorami area throughout the day, workshops dedicated to children will alternate in collaboration with the farms participating in the project

4:45 PM – Toum Toum mi siou Dousin

Stories of the anchovy sellers told to adults and children by Elena Rovera of the Borgata Ghio Association

 

• Convitto and Via Roma

Artisans and their unique pieces

 

• Gateway to Valle Maira

Discovering the center of Dronero and its hidden treasures Meeting point

9:00 AM and 11:30 AM (max 25 people per group) – in front of the Dronero tourist office. Short guided walk with historical notes and curiosities about the center of Dronero: Foro Frumentario, Theater, Parish Church, Devil’s Bridge, Piazza Manuel and the noble houses, Via Dietro le Mura, Piazza Martiri | 9:00 AM – Activity ends around 11:00 AM | 11:30 AM – Activity ends around 1:30 PM

Info and registration: Valle Maira Tourism Consortium, +39 3791789427, info@vallemaira.org

Hour-by-hour schedule

10:00 AM

Sala Giolitti (Piazza Martiri della Libertà)

Borgata Ghio Association presents

Screening of the documentary “La valle degli spiriti” (The Valley of Spirits) by O. Foresta and D. D’Innocenzo produced by TERRA SRL with Rai Tre “Geo.” One of the authors will be present.

 

From 3:15 PM

through the streets and squares

Musical Passacharriera and concluding GRAND FINALE on stage

5:00 PM

Centro Giolitti – via XXV Aprile n. 25

The Centro Giolitti photographic archive

With digitization complete, the Centro Giolitti photographic archive is now online. What does it contain, how to access it, what history does it tell us? Barbara Bergaglio (Fondazione Camera) and Pierangelo Gentile (Director of Centro Giolitti) discuss.

Outside the Fair

Thursday, June 4, 2026

ON THE COOPERS’ PATHS AT SUNSET

Stories sung by storytellers Luca OCCELLI and Franco OLIVERO · Itinerant Trades of Valle Maira

5:30 PM · Welcome at the Chapel of San Salvatore

from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Storyteller’s Narration

«Cibriers» – The story of the itinerant Coopers of Valle Maira told and dramatized for the first time

Aperitif at Sunset

With local specialties and flavors, a small, tasty preview of the Anciue Anchovy Sellers’ Fair to be held in Dronero on June 6 and 7

Possibility to visit the Chapel of San Salvatore

free event _ limited seats _ reservation required via WhatsApp message to 388 370 4339 by June 1, 2026

Saturday, July 11

The Anchovy Seller’s Tour. From Due Vie to Ghio. Listening, nature, theater, stories, music

At Ghio: Acciugrafia. From the cart to the posters.

Exhibition of the collection of Anchovy Sellers’ advertising posters from the 1980s.

 

Sunday, June 21

5:00 PM

Celle di Macra

Madamè in Concert as part of the San Giovanni celebrations

Free admission until seats are filled

Reservation recommended at proloco.seles@gmail.com

ANCIUE in the window … and in wood!

Anciue, in collaboration with IL BOTTEGONE, revitalizes and colors shop windows and arcades. Thanks to the work of the Merchants’ Association, in fact, about a hundred wooden anchovies have been produced that Dronero residents and tourists will find while strolling from one shop to another, while the windows will display the traditional photos that tell the story of anchovy families and the schoolchildren, armed with cardboard, colors, and pencils, will draw and cut out crafts that will be hung under the arcades. In short, anchovies of every color, every shape, and a great desire to experience the Fair together.

 

Free the Anchovy

For the fifth consecutive year, the streets and areas of the Fair will have a special symbol to look for, special not in shape obviously, but in its story. Thanks to the collaboration with OPERE LIBERE, a project of the Soleri Bertoni art high school and the Morandi prison in Saluzzo, some tin Anchovies will be hung and mark the arrival in a different area. Opere Libere, with the collaboration of the Liberi Dentro association, will also be a tailor shop and jewelry with objects created within the prison walls that aim to build a bridge with the fair and a moment of sharing and encounter. These objects will be presented and explained at the TERRES MONVISO stands