Pyrgos is the base for a summer with two faces: the village panigiria of Ilia on one side, and the events held at the region's archaeological sites on the other.
Nothing on right now
May - September
Panigiria run from May to September, and the season peaks at Dekapentavgoustos - the Dormition, on 15 August - when most villages hold their feast. Each programme is set close to its own saint's day, so the list fills late and empties out of season.
The Ilia regional unit stretches from the Ionian coast to the highlands of Foloi, and the summer programme follows that line. At Amaliada the events are tied to the feast of the town's patron, Agios Athanasios; at Kakovatos an olive festival is held in August; and at Zacharo the Zachareiko Carnival keeps its own tradition alive at another point in the year. Around Pyrgos, the plain villages keep their saint's days with a live band, tables in the square and dancing until late, while in the highlands the evening holds its more traditional character.
Ilia also has a second, cultural calendar that no other region keeps: Ancient Olympia, the Temple of Apollo at Bassae and Chlemoutsi Castle open for the August full-moon events, and the International Festival of Ancient Olympia brings its own programme through the summer. Pyrgos, the capital of the prefecture with its neoclassical buildings, works as the base for all of it: from there you can reach Olympia, Lake Kaiafas and the oak forest of Foloi within the same day. At the feast-day tables the roast dominates, along with ladera made with Ilian olive oil and local wine, and the music moves between the folk repertoire of the Peloponnese and the laiko songbook.
In the plain and highland villages of Ilia, at Amaliada around the feast of Agios Athanasios, at Kakovatos with its August olive festival, and at Zacharo. See the current calendar on Mood.
Events for the August full moon, as at the Temple of Apollo at Bassae and Chlemoutsi Castle, while the International Festival of Ancient Olympia keeps its own programme through the summer.
