Benvenuta Estate Festival

The festival that welcomes summer in Tuglie

The Benvenuta Estate Festival is the first of the summer festivals organized by the Pro Loco of Tuglie at Parco di Montegrappa, located on the hill overlooking the town in the province of Lecce. As the name suggests, it is the celebration that officially opens the season: a welcoming ritual through which the community kicks off an entire cycle of gastronomic and musical events that enliven summer evenings until the end of August.

For many years, the Pro Loco has been welcoming tourists and the many emigrants who return to Tuglie for their holidays here. In the cool of the wooded hill — the last offshoot of the Murgia Salentina — you can enjoy delicious traditional Tuglie dishes, prepared according to the ancient customs and rural traditions of the area.

Parco di Montegrappa

Parco di Montegrappa is no ordinary setting. The hill, the highest in the area, was once the site of threshing and harvest festivals, when the community gathered on the heights to celebrate the end of field work. Today, that same green space, with its pine forest and open view of Salento, hosts the Pro Loco evenings, keeping the bond between the festival and the land alive.

What to eat

The star of the evening is the simple and genuine cuisine of Salento. At Benvenuta Estate, you will find fresh seafood specialties and traditional Tuglie dishes, accompanied by local wines and typical products. It is the perfect opportunity to taste flavors linked to the customs of the past at the park's outdoor tables, in a convivial and family-friendly atmosphere.

A summer-long cycle of festivals

Benvenuta Estate opens a calendar that, week by week, brings other festivals to Montegrappa dedicated to the town's signature dishes: from the Sagra te la Purpetta to the Sagra te lu Furese, ending with the Sagra te lu Panzarottu at the end of August. Each evening combines good food, live music, and dancing under the stars, in a formula that has made Parco di Montegrappa one of the most popular spots in the Tuglie summer.

Free and open to everyone, the Benvenuta Estate Festival is much more than a food festival: it is the moment when Tuglie, a small town in the Salento area of Lecce, reconnects with its community and welcomes those returning home and those arriving for the first time.