Autoctono – Wine Festival

Autoctono, the wine festival born in the heart of Cilento

Every mid-August, the village of Pellare, a hamlet of the municipality of Moio della Civitella in the province of Salerno, transforms into a sensory journey dedicated to wine. Autoctono – Wine Festival is the event created by the Pro Loco Moio della Civitella APS to showcase, glass in hand, the viticulture of a corner of Campania that is proudly rediscovering its historical varieties. The festival is held with the support of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, the Province of Salerno, and local institutions.

A project, not just a festival

Autoctono is the public face of a broader initiative — Progetto Autoctono — which aims to promote small-scale Cilento producers and defend an ampelographic heritage at risk of disappearing. Since its first edition in August 2024, the festival has combined tasting stalls with serious educational work: conferences on native grape varieties and organic viticulture, with contributions from research bodies such as CREA and CNR, alongside direct presentations from participating wineries. It is therefore not just a summer fair, but an event where the community of Pellare showcases its agricultural identity.

The star grape varieties

The heart of the event lies in the grapes that have found a home here for centuries. Among the wines most featured at the tasting stalls are:

• Aglianicone, a black-berried variety typical of Cilento, long confused with Aglianico;
• Fiano, in its Cilento and Paestum expression, a white wine of great longevity;
• Santa Sofia, a rare grape rediscovered thanks to the work of local winegrowers;
• Barbera del Cilento, a southern biotype quite distinct from its more famous Piedmontese namesake.

Alongside the wines, there is a focus on local gastronomy: cheeses such as caciocavallo and buffalo mozzarella, local agricultural products, and the cuisine of the Mediterranean Diet, of which Cilento is a recognized homeland.

Guided tastings and meetings with producers

Throughout the evenings, tastings led by sommeliers and experts — in past editions, the Salerno delegation of ONAF and AIS Cilento and Vallo di Diano have collaborated — feature pairings between local white wines and artisanal cheeses. Places for these sessions are limited and must be booked in advance: it is the most educational part of the festival, where the public can truly understand why a native grape variety can capture the character of a specific hill or slope.

Folk music, performances, and village life

The Autoctono formula combines oenology with celebration. The streets and squares of Pellare host live Cilento folk music, folk groups, tarantellas, vinyl sets, and theatrical performances until late at night. It is the typical atmosphere of Southern village festivals: welcoming, genuine, and marked by scents, stories, and flavors that speak of identity and territory. In 2025, the event was enriched by a permanent artistic installation, the Fountain of Bacchus by sculptor Emanuele Stifano, inaugurated in the center of the village.

What to see nearby

Visitors arriving for the festival will find the Civitella Archaeological Park just a short walk away, featuring the walls of the ancient Lucanian settlement, the Museum of Peasant Civilization, and the historic church of San Bartolomeo. Moio della Civitella is located a short distance from Vallo della Lucania, the cultural capital of inland Cilento, and less than half an hour from the beaches of the Cilento coast: a position that allows you to combine a seaside holiday with an evening dedicated to hillside wine.

When to go

The event is held annually around mid-August, opening in the late afternoon and continuing until late at night. This is the period of peak tourist influx in Cilento: it is advisable to arrive early to park near the historic center and book your tasting sessions well in advance.