Cisano’s Sagra dei Osei: Birdwatching, Competitions & Fall Festivities
Starting tomorrow and lasting for four days, the centuries-old “Sagra dei Osei” of Cisano will take place. An event that heralds autumn, characterized by colors gradually shifting from green to yellow and red, symbolizing the harvest season and hunting.
The main occasion is to admire live, not through television documentaries, numerous local bird species, and to witness “the differences in size, color, and song”. It is essential, for one day, tomorrow, to wake up at dawn, as the president of the festival Alberto Salvetti explains, thus giving children the opportunity to see and hear the birds that live nearby for most of the year but probably have never been truly seen.
Eventually, someone’s curiosity may be sparked, leading them to explore the subject further and open the way to the study of ornithology. “Bird breeding” – emphasizes Salvetti, who has been dedicated for years to passing down a centuries-old passion – is a tough and delicate activity that requires deep technical-scientific knowledge, not easily learned from manuals, but transmitted verbally by experts.
The more one learns about ornithology, the more one loves it and the more eager one becomes to deepen their knowledge. With the competition among the best singing birds, an opportunity to listen to birdcalls and distinguish the chattering of the blackbird, the chirping of the thrush, or the trills and warbles of the skylark, linnet, and tit.
Events and Competitions
The competition of birdcall imitation, with or without a whistle, is also interesting, with contestants trying to mimic the singing of the birds. But the festival also includes a trade show: hunting equipment, farm-raised game, agricultural-enological tools, and an exhibition of hunting weapons and exchanges of indigenous and exotic birds, in collaboration with the Associazione ornitologica scaligera.
The following day features a bell-ringing competition organized by the «Pieve di Cisano» team. On Sunday, there will be the interregional exhibition of the Club Bonsai del Triveneto. On Monday, the grand pyrotechnic finale over the lake.
The festival is enriched with four dance evenings at the teatro tenda, a piano bar in Piazza del Porto, and a performance by the Garda Danze troupe (Sunday at 6 p.m.). Throughout the event, restaurants and the kitchen of the Associazione Sagra offer a series of traditional dishes of local cuisine.
All evening performances are indoors and free. Besides the municipality, the Azienda di promozione turistica Riviera degli Olivi contributes to the festival, supporting the «Sagra dei Osei» association of Cisano.