Once upon a time there was a group of friends from Cuneo at the Oktoberfest in Munich, with the dream of making it exactly as it was in Italy, offering a “miniature” reproduction, as faithful as possible to the original. Great beer enthusiasts, for years they have taken holidays together in autumn to go to Germany for the largest event in the world, which brings together 7 million people. From full immersion in Bavarian culture, between one glass and another, the crazy idea of reconstructing the festival in their city took shape. This is how the Paulaner Oktberfest Cuneo was born which, since the first edition, in 2016, has reached an average of 100 thousand visitors a year and given work to thousands of young people (over 200 hired), not to mention the related industries.
The appointment will be renewed this year. The dates have been announced: from Thursday 26 September to Sunday 13 October, in the area of the Palasport of San Rocco Castagnaretta. The 2024 edition will be the same as last year’s successful formula, with weekly openings from Thursday to Sunday, spread over three consecutive weekends, for a total of 12 days. The event organized by the Cuneo company Sidevents will reinvent itself in the layout of the spaces, confirming all the peculiarities of 2023, but with the addition of a second “stube” (brewery), to better welcome the public even when the main pavilion is full . «It can be said that changing to innovate, to grow and improve on the basis of the experience of previous years has always been in our nature – they explain from Sidevents -. Even if on some occasions it was an obligatory choice, like when we had to abandon Piazza d’Armi, which was transformed into Parri Park. This is largely the case this year too, because work on a new gym will begin in a marginal section of the area in front of the Palasport.” The opportunity to return to a layout similar to that of the first editions, with a single entrance that will first give access to the Luna Park, then to the beer garden, the two “stubes” and the main pavilion. «Making a virtue of necessity, we will improve the entry and exit roads, in the name of safety – they continue -, with a large car park on a lawn adjacent to Corso De Gasperi and pedestrianizing the stretch of Via Viglione that leads to the entrance. Entering and exiting will be simpler and more orderly. We are satisfied that we were still able to offer something more, without losing anything of what we had put in place before.”
In the coming weeks, updates on the program and other details on the initiatives leading up to the event will be released on the social channels of the Paulaner Oktoberfest Cuneo. Which will be free entry and aims to confirm last year’s record numbers, with over 100 thousand people arriving from Cuneo, Piedmont and other regions and from France. In the main pavilion, 40 thousand liters of beer and 28 thousand dishes were served, including 6,000 shanks, 4,000 hamburgers, 3,000 chicken schnitzels, 3,000 ribs, 10,000 desserts and 15,000 pretzels. In the beer garden, another 6,000 liters of beer, 2,500 cocktails and drinks, 3,500 coffees and digestives, 2,000 pretzels and 1,700 sandwiches were consumed.
