Visit Rimini

The Festa De Borg in Borgo San Giulano is held every two years, and has become one of the major success stories of Rimini’s packed events calendar.

The Festa dates back to 1979, when the nascent Societá de Borg organised the festival as part of its initiatives to counteract the gradual decline of the neighbourhood as people started moving out to new and more spacious neighbourhoods. The Borgo San Giuliano had always been regarded with a certain amount of disdain and diffidence by the rest of Rimini, but if you could choose a turning point, when perceptions of the Borgo started to change, most people would suggest it dates back to the first couple of Feste de Borg.

The 1979 Festa De Borg was a festival with the theme ‘Le feste di una volta‘ (Parties the way they used to be), and was characterised by the imagination and participation of the whole community (twin pillars that remain part of the charm of the festival). Mario Pasquinelli paints a vivid picture:

“The image though that has stayed with me most though, is that of the burning of the doors to the Borgo. All the entrances of the streets were blocked with paper doorways, that were set alight at a given signal, to open the festival and to open the quarter to the city: from the Ponte di Tiberio the Comunal Band came down towards us, dragging along behind it the Riminesi. And so the Borghigiani vented their emotions embracing them. In that moment, along with the thin walls of paper that burnt, each barrier with the city broke, in recipricol recognition”

The success of the first festival, and its repeat a year later led the organisers to realise that they had bitten off perhaps more than they could chew – which is saying something, given their resolve – and so it was decided to hold the festival every second year.

Each year the Festa Del Borgo (as it’s known by many outside the Borgo) has a theme, and while it has grown, by necessity, more commercial and more organised (having some of the most spectacular light shows, street theater, and fireworks you’ll see anywhere!) it remains very much a community based festival – albeit one which people from all across Emilia-Romagna travel to see.

Some of the key ingredients of the festival are street theatre, food and drink stands dotted around the Borgo, art exhibitions, and, extraordinarily, the residents of the Borgo open their doors and windows inviting friends and often strangers to join them for a glass of wine and a glimpse of life in the Borgo. It is a festival not to be missed.