10 events in November that you can't miss in Italy

In Italy November is the month with a double soul. It is in the middle between the mild Italian October, with the warmth of the temperatures and the bright colors of the foliage, and the beginning of the Christmas winter. November thus lives both souls, it celebrates the truffle in Alba, in the cold lands of Piedmont, and the ice cream festival in the always warm Palermo, while in the middle of Italy the chocolate festival in Perugia, Eurochocolate, agrees everyone and in every season of the year.

November is also the month in which the hours of daylight are reduced the most, but the short days make you want to experience many indoor events, exhibitions and shows and fairs. The comic is the protagonist at Lucca Comics & Games, whose first edition dates back to 1966, and also has an epilogue at the end of the month (22/24 November) with the Milan Games Weeks & Cartoomics. In Milan there is also Eicma, the largest international exhibition dedicated to two wheels (bicycles and motorbikes, but not only...), which this year celebrates 110 years since the first time.

Culture and art are always Italy's great calling card in the world. What better opportunity then to attend a show at the Roma Jazz Festival, scheduled from 1 to 23 November at the Auditorium Parco della Musica? Art lovers also know that November is the last month of the long calendar of the Venice Biennale, the 60th dedicated to art closes on November 24th. In time for the opening of the first Christmas markets. But here is a list, in order of dates, of the 10 events not to be missed if you are in Italy in November.

Raise your hand if you have never read or followed or collected a comic in your life! In Lucca they have always known this, at least since 1966, when they organized an event that was little more than a simple market exhibition in which "comic magazines" were exchanged or purchased. Since then a continuous growing up and, since 1993, the editions bearing the acronym Lucca Comics & Games, with the world of comics and manga marrying that of board games up to today's increasingly interactive video games.

First in order of date of the 10 events not to be missed in Italy in November (starting on October 30th and ending on November 3rd), this year Lucca Comics & Games celebrates, among other things, 90 years of Donald Duck and 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons . Here are 12 of the major Japanese manga artists will be present and there will be no shortage of music and cosplay performances. Over 300,000 tickets will be sold, but with professionals and media there will be half a million visitors to the largest European exhibition in the sector.

You can play with "gormiti" and Lego will open its own pop-up store, but Lucca does not forget the 100th anniversary of the death of its fellow citizen Giacomo Puccini and the three posters of Lucca Comics & Games 2024 designed by the artist Yoshitaka Amano are dedicated to the works of master, like Madame Butterfly. All information on the website.

For fans of two wheels it is the event of the year and you cannot be missed, always in November and always in Milan. It was born here in 1914, 110 years ago, and today it celebrates them in the large pavilions of the new Milanese Fair. It is the international cycle and motorcycle exhibition, for everyone simply known as Eicma, which takes place from 5 to 10 November at the Rho-Pero Fair. Easy to reach by the M1 red metro and many Trenord railway lines.

At Eicma it is possible to wander around the stands and discover, first-hand, the latest innovations in motorbikes, including electric motorbikes, bicycles of all types and scooters, but also quads and many other means of contemporary mobility. However, Eicma is also a sporting event, with the MotoLive open area where two-wheel champions and tightrope walkers do races and performances of all kinds. A party, the most important event in the world dedicated to two wheels, which attracts around 600 thousand visitors at each edition.

Eight players, the best of the calendar year, for an event that warms the hearts of tennis fans from all over the world. They are the Nitto ATP Finals and Turin hosts them from 2021 after the long stint in London. This year the Finals will take place from 10 to 17 November, again in the Inalpi Arena, the largest indoor arena in Italy, capable of accommodating 12,000 spectators and the flagship of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics.

Who will succeed Djokovic? The Serbian champion beat Jannik Sinner in the final of the tournament last year. The top 8 tennis players in the Race will compete (with mind-boggling prize money!), the ranking that only takes into account the results achieved since January 1st. During the days of the Nitto ATP Finals (Nitto is the Japanese company and main sponsor of the event) all of Turin breathes tennis at 360 degrees, with playgrounds in the city where you can exchange dribbles with tennis masters and federal instructors. And maybe among the promotional events planned in the city there might be some exchange with one of the racket champions. One of the November events tou cannot miss!

You say ice cream and you immediately think of Sicily, its sublime pastries and ice cream in brioches for breakfast. Which produces unique sorbets and semifreddos such as cassata, produces almond paste desserts and delicious "cannoli". Yes, the only region in the world to invent an ice cream festival is Sicily and in Palermo, this year from 8th to 11th November, the 16th edition of Sherbeth will take place. The master ice cream maker will be elected and this year, moreover, ice creams will once again be enjoyed in the square by anyone who wants to try them.

With a claim that says it all, "masterpieces to taste", Sherbeth is the international artisanal ice cream festival. It seems that it was a Sicilian, Francesco Procopio dei Cutelli or dei Coltelli, known as Cutò, who invented sorbet in the seventeenth century by using honey instead of sugar and putting salt in ice to prevent it from melting too quickly. He took them to the Court of France, opening an ice cream shop in Paris in 1686, the Café Procope which is still open today. The main prize of the Palermo Ice Cream Festival is dedicated to him.

From the softness of ice cream to the hardness of nougat, not without sweetness. We return to the north, to Cremona, home of master luthiers and of the tastiest and most refined Christmas dessert: nougat. The 27th edition of the Nougat Festival in Cremona is dedicated this year to the theme of Joy and takes place from 9 to 17 November, adjacent to another Cremonese delicacy, mustard, for which another festival is reserved also in November.

Among the surprises that accompany the festival are the maxi nougat constructions, the Golden Torrone, the Historical Reenactment of the Marriage between Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza. Obviously tastings and purchases are possible for everyone, as is the tour with the Sperlari Train, a free hour around the city, because after all the nougat is also a good excuse to see one of the most beautiful cities in Lombardy: Cremona and the splendid cathedral dedicated to the Madonna Assunta, with the bell tower and the Baptistery.

A thousand reasons to visit Rome in November and one more, perfect for jazz lovers. In fact, the 48th edition of the Roma Jazz Festival will take place from 1st to 23rd November, with many international level events centered mostly at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, but some concerts are also planned at the Casa del Jazz in viale di Porta Ardeatina 55 and at Club Monk in via Giuseppe Mirri (Tiburtina area).

Much more than a musical genre, jazz represented the most significant cultural and social expression of the twentieth century, a tribute recognized by the great historian Eric Hobsbawm in his essay "Social History of Jazz". A culture that has spread from the songs of black Americans to the whole world, jazz is today a universal language of music. In Rome, among the first events of the festival, Pat Metheny at the Auditorium is unmissable on Monday 4 November.

This year's edition is an important one for Eurochocolate, which celebrates its 30th anniversary, naturally in Perugia, from 15 to 24 November. In the sweetest city in Italy, chocolate is enjoying its triumph and is preparing to let itself go... "on everyone's lips". This is in fact the claim of this 30° special edition, with the ChocoLab activities offering tasting appointments at the former Goods Exchange in Via Mazzini.

Eurochocolate is the International Cocoa and Chocolate Festival, a true point of reference for producers and the public from all over the world, ready to crowd the streets and squares of the Umbrian capital. A stage with mouth-shaped sofas will be set up in Piazza IV Novembre and there will be total involvement, thanks to the schools of Perugia which will allow children to learn the secrets of chocolate and to live the tasting experience through games and the most delicious fun that there is.

The world of Banksy, the meanings of his messages, the speed of the stencils that light on the walls all over the world like apparitions. If you are in Naples in November 2024, don't miss "The World of Banksy - The Immersive Experience", the interactive exhibition that the Arena Flegrea in the Mostra d'Oltremare hosts from 11 October until 4 May 2025. It will be an opportunity to enter the mood of the Bristol street artist, for some a collective rather than a single graffiti artist, anyway the most famous in the world in street art.

The relationship between Banksy and Naples has been consolidated for decades, the artist's first Italian work was in fact the "Mary with gun", a mural located in Piazza Girolamini, near the Duomo and its Treasury Chapel, and today protected by glass . Some narratives even indicate the ancestry of the English street artist in Naples, who came from the Bristol music scene, successfully, but who never forgot his passion for graffiti.

The exhibition will be an immersive experience, that is, it projects the visitor into a virtual world in which more than 120 works by the artist are collected, including murals, installations and prints on materials of very different genres. A good opportunity to discover “The World of Banksy” is to use the Naples Pass, which guarantees a 30% discount on all adult tickets.

Venice is a collection of fine arts and creativity and the Biennale has been its witness par excellence since 1895. Cinema, architecture, art, dance, music, theatre, all sections have global relevance, like the Art Biennale, which this year will end 24 November, hosted in the traditional reception areas of the Giardini and the Arsenale.

The 60th International Art Exhibition is entitled “Foreigners Everywhere” and is curated by Adriano Pedrosa. The exhibition is divided into a Contemporary Core and a Historical Core, representing works mostly by young artists who have never exhibited at the Biennale before. They come from 88 countries around the world, 4 of which are present for the first time. All information for visits, including guided ones, at the following link.

Our journey through the flavors of Italy ends with the excellence of the truffle from Alba, in Piedmont. A fabulous territory for Italian food and wine culture, where the products of the land marry those of work and give life to the most appreciated wines in the world. The hills of the Langhe, of which Alba is the main centre, of Roero and Monferrato have been recognized three times by UNESCO for their value: Alba is Creative City for Gastronomy in 2017; the wine-growing landscapes of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato are world heritage sites and Alba is a truffle heritage site in Italy in 2021.

This year Alba celebrates the 94th edition of the White Truffle Festival. The event will last throughout November and will continue until December 8th. There will be cooking shows to learn the secrets of the great truffle chefs, sensory experiences with the National Truffle Studies Center to discover the organoleptic characteristics of the Tuber magnatum Pico, and many popular events and historical re-enactments in the rich calendar of events of the event.