La Bella Vita: Autumn food fairs and learning Italian for free

La Bella Vita is our regular look at the real culture of Italy – from language to cuisine, manners to art. This newsletter is published weekly, and you can receive it directly to your inbox: go to newsletter preferences in 'My Account' or follow the instructions in the newsletter box below.

It’s finally fall (autunno) in Italy and beginning to actually feel like it. It couldn’t come too soon; this summer had me doubting if I’d ever see a 25C day again. 

This time of year is an exciting season for gastronomy in Italy. Harvest time means fresh olive oil, 'new' wine (vino novello), chestnuts and truffles. Hearty stews and polenta come to the fore as the cooler temperatures creep in. 

Prized local ingredients and recipes are celebrated at sagre – harvest festivals or fairs. They’re one of the most common and beloved autumn weekend activities in Italy, and October has the most food festivals by far. 

We’ve rounded up some of the fests taking place across Italy in the coming weeks, with at least one in every region.

Sagra: The best Italian food festivals to visit in October 2026

For a long time, one of the advantages of living in Italy, particularly the south, over other EU countries was the low cost of living. 

While it may be impossible to find a €1 espresso or €7 pizza in the capital nowadays, there evidently is one area that still ranks high in affordability: public transport.

A new report shows that Rome is one of the cheapest cities in Europe to take public transport, ranking 5th out of 30.

The €1.50 cost of a bus or metro ticket hasn’t changed in the many years since I first came to Rome. Friends who visit from other European capitals marvel at the shockingly cheap €21 monthly transit pass (in comparison to Amsterdam’s €107 pass or Paris’s €77).

But tell this to a Roman, and they’d likely retort: What good is cheap transportation if it doesn’t work? 

The report notes that Rome’s transport is “not state-of-the-art” – an understatement – with “heavy reliance on buses across this large and congested city”.

Affordability, clearly, doesn’t tell the full story. 

Anecdotally, I can say that things have been moving in the right direction in recent years. Outside the touristic areas, buses can still be sporadic, but new digital screens, which tell passengers when each bus will arrive at the stop, are reliable. (There’s something satisfying about knowing your bus will take 37 minutes to get there.)

Rome’s public transport among most affordable in Europe

Italian language schools can be extremely pricey. Teaching Italian to English speakers (and vice versa) is a huge industry. Enrolling with a language school in Italy is one of the easiest ways to get a visa, so people are usually willing to pay high fees. 

While there are surely benefits to going to a private language school if you’re able, it’s certainly not the only path to fluency.

There is a surprising number of free opportunities to learn Italian in Italy that I wish I’d known about when I arrived. Here are some you can take advantage of to learn Italian on a budget.

Where to find free Italian lessons in Italy