Anniversary of the Historic Meeting of Teano / National Unity Festival

The Historic Meeting of October 26, 1860

On October 26, 1860, along the road leading to Teano in the province of Caserta, Giuseppe Garibaldi—arriving from Caiazzo—and King Victor Emmanuel II—descending from Venafro—shook hands. That gesture concluded the Expedition of the Thousand and opened the way for the South to join the new unified State: it is the episode that school textbooks simply call the "Meeting of Teano." Since then, the town has guarded this memory, renewing it every autumn with a calendar of civic ceremonies and cultural events involving the local administration, schools, and associations.

From anniversary to festival

Alongside the official celebrations, the National Unity Festival was launched in 2022, described by its organizers as a true "Risorgimento history festival." The initiative stems from a memorandum of understanding between the Municipality of Teano and the "Antica Terra di Lavoro" Study Center of the Province of Caserta, with the collaboration of local schools, the Pro Loco Teano e Borghi, and the Youth Forum. The first edition took place from October 24 to 26, 2022, in the Loggione hall of the Teanum Sidicinum Archaeological Museum in Piazza Umberto I, featuring afternoon conferences followed by tastings of local products prepared by the local Hotel Management School. Since then, the festival has grown with each edition, leading up to the 165th anniversary celebrated in 2025.

Anniversary ceremonies

The civic heart of the event remains the morning of the anniversary, which follows a well-established schedule:

• laying of a laurel wreath at the Monument to the Historic Meeting in the Borgonuovo area, in the presence of civil, military, and school authorities;
• an official parade starting from Piazza Municipio and winding through the town centre;
• a second wreath-laying at the Equestrian Monument of the Historic Meeting in Piazza Unità d'Italia;
• honors performed by the Fanfare of the 10th Carabinieri Regiment "Campania" from Naples;
• an invitation to citizens to display the Italian Tricolour as a sign of collective belonging and memory.

The "City of Teano – Carlo Lauberg and the Risorgimento" Award

The festival extends beyond October. On June 2, Republic Day, the awards ceremony for the historical-literary competition "City of Teano – Carlo Lauberg and the Risorgimento" is held. Divided into non-fiction, fiction, and unpublished works, it is dedicated to the figure of Carlo Lauberg, a key player in the era preceding the Risorgimento. The award promotes historical and narrative writing about Southern Italy, with a focus on Campania and the Terra di Lavoro region. In 2025, the ceremony took place in the Loggione hall of the Archaeological Museum with a special philatelic cancellation by Poste Italiane, while in 2026, it was held in the Town Hall Council Chamber, featuring entries from all over Italy and even Brazil and Morocco.

One place, two versions of history

A small historiographical debate persists around the meeting, which the festival's conferences are happy to address: tradition places the handshake in Teano, near the current San Nicola bridge, while some sources shift the episode to Vairano Scalo, near the Taverna Catena. It is precisely this margin for discussion that makes the encounters with historians and scholars the most vibrant part of the event, far beyond the rhetoric of commemorations.

Teano and the Alto Casertano

Ancient Teanum Sidicinum, Teano is today a hub of the Alto Casertano area in Campania, overlooking the volcanic massif of Roccamonfina. The historic centre, with its Archaeological Museum housed in the Loggione, serves as a natural backdrop for the celebrations. In March 2026, the municipal administration installed four literary benches featuring historical quotes and sources along a path connecting the north gate to the central square, tracing the locations crossed by the King and the General. A way to make the memory of the Unification accessible all year round, not just during the anniversary days.

Why it is worth attending

Those arriving in Teano at the end of October will not find a food festival or a large entertainment event, but something rarer: a community gathering around a date that belongs to the entire country. With flags in the windows, students lined up in the squares, and conferences in the Loggione hall, the event offers a calm and well-documented reading of the Southern Risorgimento in one of the cities that truly witnessed that history unfold.