On Grape, Feast and Community: An Ethnographic Note on the Making of the Grape Harvest Festival in an Italian Town in Piedmont

Abstract

This paper analyses the phenomenon of grape harvest festivals in Italy. By exploring ethnographically the grape harvest festival of Lu (Alessandria province, Piedmont region), the paper points out the economic and social roles played by the festivals in modern Italy. The historic analysis of the case study helps to focus on the history of these festivals in the country and the role played by television and localism in defining the present forms of the rite.