Arrivederci a Scauri — Sea Festival

A festival that bids farewell to summer

Some festivals welcome the season, while others bring it to a close. "Arrivederci a Scauri" belongs to the latter: it is the collective farewell that the community of Scauri, a seaside district of the Municipality of Minturno (province of Latina, Lazio), offers every late August to the sea, the vacationers, and the ending season. The name itself is the traditional phrase used by those leaving the coast to greet those who remain: an "until we meet again," never a goodbye.

From 1964 to today

The Sea Festival was born in the summer of 1964 with the aim of strengthening the bond between residents, guests, and the Tyrrhenian coast. Since 1977, with the earlier start of the school year, the date has been fixed in the final part of August, remaining the last major event of the beach season. In 2025, the event reached its 62nd edition, confirming a continuity rare in the landscape of Lazio's coastal festivals.

The memory of 1552 and the Madonna del Mare

Behind the festival lies a precise historical root. Local tradition traces it back to 1552, when, during a Turkish raid led by the corsair Dragut, a group of captive inhabitants managed to save themselves during a storm after invoking the help of the Virgin. From that episode stems the festival's central act: the candlelight boat procession, which crosses the bay in front of Monte d'Oro at sunset. Fishermen and boaters pay homage to the Madonna del Mare and cast a laurel wreath into the water in memory of those lost at sea. It is the moment when the festival ceases to be mere entertainment and becomes both a civic and religious ritual.

What to experience during the festival

The program, curated by the Municipality of Minturno together with the Parish Committee of Maria SS.ma Immacolata, spans three days and alternates different styles:

• Free guided tours of the parish churches of Santa Albina and Maria SS.ma Immacolata;
• Nature walks in old Scauri and on the trails of Monte di Scauri, within the Riviera di Ulisse Regional Park;
• Cultural meetings and book presentations at the Arena Mallozzi;
• Shows and concerts in Piazzale Sieci, featuring cabaret and live music;
• The sunrise concert at the Scauri Tower, around six in the morning, one of the most beloved events;
• The presentation of the "Marco Emilio Scauro" Prize, a civic award now in its twenty-eighth year;
• The midnight fireworks over the bay, which close the event.

The context: Minturno between archaeology and coastline

Those who arrive for the festival find much more than just three evenings. Minturno preserves its medieval village on the hill, with its castle and the church of San Pietro, and above all the archaeological area of Minturnae, with its Roman theater and the remains of the aqueduct along the Via Appia. Scauri, in the valley, offers a wide beach and the promontory of Monte d'Oro, which closes the Gulf of Gaeta to the west. The local cuisine is that of the lower Lazio coast: bluefish, soups, buffalo mozzarella from the Garigliano plain, and local Aurunci wines.

Atmosphere

During the evenings, the seafront, from Via Filippo Merola to Via Maurizio Bisegna, is closed to traffic and becomes a long pedestrian promenade. It is a village festival in the best sense of the term: families, stalls, chairs brought from home to watch the show, and the shared feeling that summer is truly ending. It is not an event built for mass tourism, which is precisely what makes it interesting for those seeking a still-authentic tradition on the Pontine coast.