Ascoliva Festival 2026 honors founder Primo Valenti in Ascoli, Italy

The 13th edition of the Ascoliva Festival will run from 8 to 19 August 2026 in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. The event is dedicated to the late founder Primo Valenti and carries the theme “Impossibile resisterle”, highlighting the famed stuffed Ascoli olive.

For the first time the festival will be hosted in the historic cloister of San Francesco, where a village of olive producers will showcase DOP‑certified olives and other traditional Piceno dishes. The programme includes cultural talks, workshops, an “Oliva Day” with olive‑themed games, the Ascoliva prize for culinary promotion, and a home‑made olive‑making competition on 16 August.

The festival is backed by the Comune di Ascoli, the Regione Marche, the Consorzio tutela e valorizzazione dell’oliva ascolana del Piceno DOP, Bim Tronto and local museums. The previous edition attracted more than 40 000 visitors, bringing the total attendance across twelve editions to over half a million.