The Tortellini of Valeggio and the Knots of Love-festival

In the year 1993, while commemorating 600 years of the construction of a bridge by the Milanese Visconti family, a Restaurant owner of the area had the good idea to honor the Tortellino from Valeggio in a special manner. The event which originated at the time, now takes place every year in the month of June on top of the medieval bridge with parallel arranged tables in red and blue decoration, which are the colors of the town Valeggio, covering a total length of 1500 meters. Every year 4000 guests from all over the world come to join this special feast, where 20 associated restaurants are involved in organizing a staff of 600 persons, including waiters, sommeliers and cooks; during the event 600.000 hand shaped tortellini are served, requiring 70 kilos of Grana Padano cheese, 1.200 eggs and 1,15 tons of flour; 3.350 bottles of the local white wine Custoza, 1.500 bottles of Bardolino red wine and 840 bottles of spumante accompany the meals during this unusual event. To start with, people dressed up in traditional medieval costumes march along the bridge to bring the story of the nodo d’amore to mind and after the dinner, which consists solely of dishes of tortellini, impressive fireworks light up the dark sky from Valeggio’s old castle ruin which lays upon a hilltop above Borghetto on the river Mincio.