Venue
12061 Carrù (CN), Piedmont, Italy
{{item.title}}
Fiera del Bue Grasso, Carrù guide
Fat oxen and bollito misto at dawn.
In short
Food lovers and anyone curious about Piedmont's farming traditions should be in Carrù on Thursday 17 December 2026, the second Thursday before Christmas. The fair starts early, at 7:00, with prize Piemontese oxen judged and draped in blankets while the crowd eats bollito misto. Arrive early and dress for a cold December morning.
Once a year the small Piedmontese town of Carrù becomes a cattle fair, a judging ring and an open-air kitchen all at once. The Fiera del Bue Grasso brings in the season's finest fattened Piemontese oxen, drapes the champions in ceremonial blankets and feeds the crowd plates of bollito misto from first light.
Carrù has traded cattle for more than five centuries. A decree of 1473 gave it the right to hold markets twice a week, and the fat-ox fair itself began on 15 December 1910, created to ease a shortage of meat and bring prices down for poorer families. The first edition drew about 2,100 cattle along with pigs, sheep and poultry. It has been missed only once, in the winter of 1944.
For breeders it is the day years of patient feeding are judged in public. For visitors it is a rare look at rural Italy working as it always has, with a very good lunch at the end.
–/5
No reviews yet
Been to this event? Your review helps other travellers.
Key Facts & Stats:
Where: Carrù, Italy
Venue: Piazza Mercato Bestiame
Held: Every year
Type of event: Food Festivals, Folk Festival, Fair
Currency: Euro (EUR, €)
Time zone: Central European Time, UTC+1 (UTC+2 in summer)
Language: Italian
Map
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Clothing for a cold morning and safety around the oxen
Most of the day is spent outdoors or under an open-sided hall on a December morning, so dress for cold and damp: warm layers, a hat and waterproof boots you do not mind getting dirty around livestock.
- These animals can weigh well over a tonne. Do not touch them or step between an ox and its handler without asking.
- Keep children close in the cattle lines and leave pushchairs in the car if you can.
- Ask before photographing breeders at close range, and stay out of the way while the judges work.
Eating an early bollito and paying on site
Eat early. The bollito service at the Palafiera starts at seven, and a plate of boiled meat with green sauce at that hour is part of the experience. Get your plate in before the judging starts at nine and you will have the morning free for the animals.
Carry cash for the market stalls, the bar counters and the small purchases that fill a fair day. If you want a souvenir with a story, the Pro Loco sells a limited run of 100 handmade drover's sticks each year at its food tent, for 40 euros each, with a metal tag and your name entered in a register.
Watching the cattle auction
Anyone can stand and watch the auction under the Borsarelli market hall, and it is worth doing even if you have no intention of buying an animal. Only Piemontese oxen preselected by ANABORAPI, the national breeders' association, go under the hammer.
Serious buyers can bid in person with the official auctioneer or online from anywhere in the world. If you are only watching, keep your hands still while the bidding is live and stay behind the people trading.
What happens on the day
- Evenings before
Concerts in town
In recent years Carrù has held concerts and band performances on the evenings leading up to the fair.
- 07:00
Bollito at the Palafiera
The Pro Loco Carrù serves non-stop bollito, and for many visitors broth and a glass of red are breakfast.
- 09:00
Judging begins
The judges start work under the Ala mercatale Borsarelli, the covered hall on Piazza Mercato Bestiame.
- Morning
World auction of the fat ox
Held under the same roof and open to anyone who wants to watch.
- 11:00
Prize-giving
Prizes for the livestock show are handed out in the hall, and the winners are draped in their gualdrappe.
- All day
Market and postmark
A general market fills the town, and Poste Italiane runs a stand with a special postmark and postcard.
Booking accommodation and a table for bollito misto
Shape the day around the cattle and your stomach. The judging is a morning affair, so the serious part is over by lunch, and that leaves the afternoon for a long meal. Bars and restaurants in town serve broth and bollito from the early hours, and a sit-down lunch on fair day is worth reserving before you book anything else.
An extra night is worth having. Carrù sits in the province of Cuneo, and a December trip here pairs well with a few days elsewhere in Piedmont. Our Italy pages are a useful place to map out the rest of the route.
What makes a bue grasso and the cuts of bollito
A bue grasso is not just any steer. Breeders castrate these white Piemontese calves young and wait four years before calling them oxen. The fattening is slow, on dry feed. The best can top a tonne and a few pass 1,400 kg. Judges sort them by build. The Nostrano looks like the old working ox. The Fassone, or della coscia, carries the famous double rump, and the Migliorato falls somewhere between. The heaviest animal wins a prize of its own. Winners are draped in a gualdrappa, an ornamental blanket.
The kitchen side follows strict rules too. A proper bollito misto alla piemontese obeys the rule of seven: seven cuts of beef, from cappello del prete to punta di petto, and seven extras cooked separately, tongue and cotechino among them. It comes with bagnetto verde, a green sauce of parsley and anchovy, with horseradish and grape mostarda on the side.
Before lorries, cattle walked here behind the tucau, a drover who guided each animal with a chestnut stick bent by fire and water. The stick was never for beating. A good drover steered with it, then pressed its tip into the muscle to judge the animal's worth.
Getting there
By car
A car is close to essential. Carrù has its own exit on the A6 motorway between Turin and Savona. Check the fair website the week before for parking and shuttle arrangements.
No trains
The Carrù-Clavesana station lost its passenger service after the 1994 Tanaro flood, and the line was formally closed in 2005.
Flying in
Turin Airport at Caselle Torinese is the main gateway; hire a car there or in Turin. Cuneo's smaller airport at Levaldigi has a handful of routes.
On the day
Set off early enough to be parked before the judging starts at nine.
Where to stay during the festival
Carrù is small and its rooms go early, so book as soon as you know you are coming.
If the town is full, Cuneo, about 30 km away, cuts the morning drive, while Turin, about 70 km north, has far more choice. Reserve a sit-down lunch for fair day before anything else.
Weather and what to pack
Mid-December in Piedmont is cold. Turin's airport station averages a December high of 8.3°C and a low just below freezing, -0.7°C, with around 45 mm of precipitation over four or five wet days (1991-2020 normals).
Carrù's hill country can be colder still, and early-morning fog is common in the Po valley in winter.
Worth packing
- A warm coat, hat and gloves for the 07:00 start
- Waterproof boots for the livestock area
- Cash for the market stalls
Car hire in Carrù
Airport transfer to Fiera del Bue Grasso, Carrù
Met at arrivals at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) and driven door to door to Piazza Mercato Bestiame.
- Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) → Piazza Mercato Bestiame
- 226 km · 2 hr 55 min
Restaurants and food in Italy
Places to eat in Italy before or after the celebrations.
Cantina Do Mori
Sestiere San Polo 429, 30125 Venice, Italy
Cuisine:VenetianCicchetti
- Dine-in
- Bar
- Counter seating
L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele
Via Cesare Sersale 1/7, 80139 Naples, Italy
Cuisine:Neapolitan pizzaPizzeria
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina
Via dei Giubbonari 21, 00186 Rome, Italy
Cuisine:RomanItalian
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Counter seating
Contribute:
Recently viewed events
Others of this kind you opened on this device, so you can get back to them quickly.
Travelers are asking
No questions yet about Fiera del Bue Grasso, Carrù. Ask the community or our travel team, and the answer will show here once it is published.
Be the first to ask
Our team answers questions here
Explore Italy
Other festivals around the same time
Festivals held in the same weeks, if you want to plan more than one.
27
Dec, 2026
Dec, 2026
Cultural Events, Folk Festival, Social Festivals
Ibi, Spain
16 photos
Explore Italy
More events and festivals in Italy
Festivals and events across Italy, with dates, venues and ticket details where available.
06
Dec, 2026
Dec, 2026
Cultural Events, Community Events, Fair
Milan, Italy
1 photo
07
Feb, 2027
Feb, 2027
Food Festivals, Cultural Events, Carnivals
Ivrea, Italy
1 photo
26
Jun, 2027
Jun, 2027
Sporting Events, Cultural Events, Folk Festival
Pisa, Italy
1 photo
01
Jul, 2027
Jul, 2027
Cultural Events, Religious Festivals, Parade
Matera, Italy
1 photo
Save time: create a trip and get offers from locals
Tell us where and when you want to go, and local travel experts send you offers for your trip.
1 Create a trip
2 Get offers from locals
3 Pick the one you like
Create a trip
Need help?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Timing & weather
See the dates above. Like every year, it falls on the second Thursday before Christmas.
The auction has been part of the fair since 2006. It sells only Piemontese oxen selected beforehand by the breeders' association, and bids can be placed online as well as in the hall.
General
Yes. Poste Italiane runs a stand on fair day with a special cancellation and a commemorative postcard, a small collectors' tradition that suits a fair with this much history.
A white Piemontese ox, castrated young and fattened slowly for several years. It only earns the name ox after its fourth year, and the heaviest animals at Carrù weigh more than 1,400 kg.
The decorated cloth laid over a prize-winning animal's back. Buyers at the world auction also receive one, painted by hand and made specially for them.
The drover who walked cattle from the farms to Carrù before lorries took over. His bent chestnut stick has become the fair's emblem, and a hundred are made each year for visitors to buy.
The town has a museum devoted to it, La casa della Piemontese, which the fair promotes alongside the livestock show. It makes a good stop once the judging is over.
Older than the fair itself. Records of twice-weekly markets go back to a decree of 1473, and in 1635 the Duke of Savoy granted the town a three-day fair each autumn.
Stay & facilities
Because the fair starts so early. Bars and restaurants have long served broth, boiled meat and red wine from the first hours of the day, and the Pro Loco's bollito now begins at seven.
Booking
Three: the Nostrano, the Fassone with its double rump, and the Migliorato in between. The difference lies in build and muscle, and the heaviest ox gets a separate award.
Getting there
No. The railway that once stopped at Carrù-Clavesana has had no passenger service since the 1994 flood. Drive via the A6 motorway, which has a Carrù exit.