Aquara Music Fest

A contest for original music in the heart of the Alburni

The Aquara Music Fest — known to everyone as AQMF — is the music competition that brings emerging groups from all over Italy to Aquara, a small town in the province of Salerno, Campania, every summer. The initiative was born in 2019 at the initiative of the cultural association «L'Alveare» ETS with a very clear vision: to provide a real stage for those who write their own music in an inland area — between the Calore Valley, the Cilento, and the Alburni mountains — where such opportunities are rare.

The festival is held in memory of Fioravante Serraino, a founding member of the association, and has gradually expanded to a national scale: in the first seven editions, 141 contestants from every corner of Italy have taken part.

Rules: original songs only

The admission criteria are strict: the stage is reserved exclusively for original music. Cover bands and tribute bands are not permitted. Eligibility is open to:

• groups with vocals and instruments, duos, or soloists accompanying themselves with an instrument;
• artists from any part of Italy, with no age limit;
• projects of any musical genre and in any language;
• original songs, whether previously released or unreleased.

Registration is completely free and is completed by filling out the online form indicated in the annual call for entries, usually published in mid-June.

The selection process

The journey takes place in several stages. After the application deadline, the organization publishes the list of semi-finalists; a listening panel consisting of professional musicians and enthusiasts from across Italy then selects up to three finalists, while a fourth spot is assigned directly by the organizing committee. The names of the finalists are revealed via a video announcement broadcast on the association's Facebook and YouTube channels a few weeks before the final evening.

The final in Piazza Vittorio Veneto

The live final is held in Piazza Vittorio Veneto, in the center of Aquara: four sets of 25 minutes each, all consisting of original material, performed before the public and the event's jury. The evening concludes with the proclamation of the winner, the presentation of the commemorative plaque, and the cash prize. Over the years, the jury presidency has been entrusted to nationally renowned musicians, including Fabrizio Barale, Guido Guglielminetti, Federico Malaman, Maurizio Dei Lazzaretti, and Luca Colombo; in some editions, the evening was accompanied by a free masterclass dedicated to songwriting and music production, hosted at the «Fioravante Serraino» Social Center.

Hall of Fame

• 2025 — Known Physics (Perugia)
• 2024 — La Trappola di Dalian (Turin)
• 2023 — La Stazione delle frequenze (Benevento)
• 2022 — Aftersat (Pozzuoli, Naples)
• 2021 — Daniele De Gregori (Rome)
• 2020 — La Stazione delle frequenze (Benevento)
• 2019 — Zaund (Salerno)

Aquara and its territory

Aquara is a village overlooking the Calore valley, within the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. Arriving here in late August means combining a concert with a summer evening in the inland Cilento: stone alleys, fresher air than on the coast, and the Cilento cuisine of the local trattorias. The event is held under the patronage of the Municipality of Aquara, the Campania Region, the Province of Salerno, the Park Authority, and UNCEM Campania, and in recent years has been supported by BCC Capaccio Paestum e Serino.

Why it's worth the trip

The AQMF is not a showcase for already famous names: it is the right place to hear, before anyone else, bands and singer-songwriters who are building their own repertoire. The formula — few competing artists, long sets, a stage in the square, and a competent jury — gives the evening the rhythm of a real concert rather than a series of auditions. For those spending the summer between Paestum, the Cilento, and the Alburni, it is one of the most interesting live music events in the Salerno hinterland.