Braciami Ancora

Braciami Ancora: the Apice grill festival

Braciami Ancora is one of the most distinctive summer festivals in the Municipality of Apice, in the Province of Benevento, in the heart of the Sannio region of Campania. The playful name says it all: here, the focus is on charcoal-grilled meat, cooked on outdoor wood-fired grills and served at long tables set in the rustic, traditional style. Launched in 2022, the event has grown year after year to become one of the most anticipated August gatherings in the Apice area, with its fourth edition held in August 2025.

The Ponte Rotto and the Via Appia: an archaeological backdrop

What sets Braciami Ancora apart from a typical food festival is its location: Contrada Marroni, on the outskirts of the town, where the remains of the Ponte Rotto (also known as Ponte Appiano) stand. This Roman viaduct once carried the Via Appia across the Calore River. The bridge's structures date from the 1st century BC to the early Middle Ages, showcasing multiple overlapping construction techniques; today, one arch, several piers, and two medieval pillars built with repurposed materials remain. The monument has been repeatedly nominated as one of the FAI's "Places of the Heart" and lies along the route of what the ancients called the regina viarum, the road that connected Rome to Brindisi. Dining next to these ancient stones, with the embers glowing and the darkness of the countryside all around, is the experience visitors describe as the most memorable part of the evening.

What to eat

The menu is built on a short supply chain: local farms and livestock producers provide the meat and garden produce, following a strictly farm-to-table philosophy. In past editions, the grills have featured:

• Sannio sausages and pork;
• lamb chops and cuts;
• charcoal-grilled beef cuts;
• grilled seasonal vegetables and garden sides;
• homemade bread and local cheeses;
• Sannio wines, a land of Aglianico, Falanghina, and Coda di Volpe.

Everything is served in a simple, convivial way, without frills: it is a rustic country table, not a gourmet restaurant, and that is precisely its strength.

Folk music and atmosphere

The evenings are accompanied by folk music and traditional country songs: in recent editions, the group Morroni Folk has enlivened the area with tarantellas and traditional Sannio repertoire, turning the space between the grills into an impromptu dance floor. The event takes place in the evening, when the Apice countryside cools down and the lights illuminate the remains of the bridge.

Who organizes it

The event was born from the collaboration between local farms, the Pro Loco of Apice, and the Municipal Administration, with the goal of promoting two local treasures together: the region's agri-food products and the Ponte Rotto archaeological site, which is often little-known even to locals.

Apice: the ghost town and the castle

Those arriving for the festival should consider arriving a few hours early. Apice is famous for Apice Vecchia, the village abandoned after the 1962 earthquake and definitively emptied by the 1980 Irpinia earthquake: a ghost town suspended in time, dominated by the Castello dell'Ettore, a fortress of Norman origin that now hosts exhibition spaces and cultural events. The contrast between the silence of the old village and the lively night-time grill party is one of the reasons it is worth planning a full-day trip.

When it takes place

Braciami Ancora is traditionally held in mid-August, around the 17th–19th of the month, over several consecutive evenings. The exact dates are announced by the Pro Loco of Apice on their social media channels a few weeks before the event: it is best to check them before setting off.