The San Bertoumiรฉu Festival is the direct descendant of Nice’s traditional grand fair, which was once held from August 24 to September 2. This annual event was both a place for the exchange of mountain artisan products (mainly textiles), a livestock fair, and a place where one could purchase all that was needed for oneself or one’s home.
A place of commerce and gathering, the market also allowed for the circulation of news in times when communication means and media were limited or non-existent. Since 1999, the City of Nice has decided to revive this warm and friendly event, which not only allows for the discovery or rediscovery of the products of the County but also honors Nice’s identity.
The San Bertoumiรฉu Festival presents artisans and producers from all over the former County of Nice, whether slate sculptors, potters, winemakers, cheesemakers, brewers, or beekeepers. Agricultural equipment and animals are part of the celebration, accompanied by demonstrations of wheat threshing and woodcutting to the rhythm of traditional County music.
The San Bertoumiรฉu Festival is also an opportunity to discover local authors thanks to the Book City of the County of Nice, to try traditional Nice games such as Pilou, Vitou, Mourra, or even participate in the Niรงoise salad contest – salada de toumati -.
A bit of history
Since the Middle Ages and up to the present day, often associated, festivals,
markets, and fairs still punctuate the lives of our countryside and some
of our towns.
Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Ascension… are events that
lead to large popular gatherings, along with patronal festivals like Saint John, Saint Peter, or the Assumption.
True calendar landmarks, these religious traditions were an integral part
of the collective memory of the people of the County of Nice, to the
point that they influenced their lives and shaped their daily routines.
If there is a place of meeting and exchange, it’s indeed the market.
For centuries, it was exclusively there that news
and products circulated and nurtured the towns, countryside, and their
inhabitants.
In Nice, until the 16th century, the daily markets were held by the upper town, on the Castle. The municipal authorities saw it as a way to prevent the depopulation of the site in favor of the lower town, and to more easily control the taxation of products. From the
16th century onwards, this resistance ceased: the markets, like the municipal power, had to come down to the plain, driven by Emmanuel-Philibert’s fortification policy. A new chapter opened, whose long history deserves to be recounted.
