One festival in Portogruaro deserves special mention: the Terra dei Dogi. Think of it as a medium-sized wine festival in addition to the ones already mentioned. The area west of Portogruaro, Lison Pramaggiore, has always been, in a sense, the wine cellar of the Venetian doges.
During the Terra dei Dogi festival, you can sample all the region's wines and enjoy a real spectacle that gets not only the entire town but also the surrounding area up and about.
That's because a delegation in Venetian gondolas makes a special trip for the occasion: the Doges are coming to visit! (The costumed procession isn't a fixed part of the event, but they do drop by every few years.
This makes it easy to see: This festival isn't a show put on for tourists, but a celebration by the locals (to which guests are, of course, also welcome).
In short:
a colorful, lively festival in true Italian style. And the only reason there are virtually no tourists in attendance is that word simply hasn't gotten around (yet).
