Agriculture Festival

The Agriculture Festival in Santa Maria a Vico

In Santa Maria a Vico, a town of just over 14,000 inhabitants in the province of Caserta, Campania, the Agriculture Festival is the day the community dedicates to the farming world and the fruits of its land. It is not a festival built around a single product, but a choral celebration that brings together a market, tastings, study sessions, and entertainment to tell the story of what it means to farm today in this corner of the Campanian plains crossed by the ancient Appian Way.

A tribute to farm work

The idea behind the event is simple: to pay tribute to one of the territory's most important resources, agriculture, and to do so by involving all the stakeholders who keep it alive. Producers, associations, schools, and citizens participate in the festival, in a day that intertwines tradition, culture, and sustainability. It is also a way to reconnect younger generations with knowledge that has been the main family trade in Santa Maria a Vico for centuries.

Farmers' market and tastings

The heart of the day is the farmers' market, with stalls and displays gathering local agri-food excellence. The public can enjoy free tastings of seasonal fruit and vegetables, olive oil, wine, and artisanal cheeses, meeting the producers directly. It is the short supply chain formula brought to the town square: you buy, you taste, and above all, you understand where what you eat comes from.

Vintage tractors, tools, and old-time crafts

The exhibition of vintage tractors and rural tools is highly popular, transforming part of the festival into a small open-air museum of agricultural mechanization. Alongside the historic vehicles, there are demonstrations of traditional crafts, with artisans showing live techniques passed down from father to son. For children and students, there are educational workshops designed to let them experience seeds, soil, and agricultural tools firsthand.

Conferences, folk music, and rustic cuisine

The festival does not shy away from reflection: conferences address the future of agriculture and themes of short supply chains and sustainability, involving technicians, producers, and administrators. In the afternoon and evening, Campanian folk music and traditional dances take over, while food stalls offer dishes from rustic, traditional cuisine. The day concludes with the awarding of local producers and an evening concert open to everyone.

Santa Maria a Vico, a town with an agricultural vocation

Nestled at 83 meters above sea level, on the edge of the Valle di Suessola and beneath the Colli Tifatini, the Municipality of Santa Maria a Vico still has a predominantly agricultural economy today, favored by fertile land and a strategic position along the historic Appian Way, between Caserta, Nola, and the Valle Caudina. The center houses the Basilica of Maria SS. Assunta with its Aragonese complex, while the patron saint, Saint Nicholas of Bari, is celebrated on December 6th: the Agriculture Festival thus fits into a calendar of events that marks the community's year.

Why attend

• Free tastings of local products: fruit, vegetables, olive oil, wine, and artisanal cheeses.
• Farmers' market with direct sales from local producers.
• Exhibition of vintage tractors and rural tools, with demonstrations of traditional crafts.
• Educational workshops for children and teenagers, in collaboration with schools.
• Campanian folk music, traditional dances, and free evening concert.
• An opportunity to discover the Caserta countryside far from the most beaten tourist paths.