Campizze Country Festival

A festival born to bring Campizze to life

The Campizze Country Festival is the most anticipated summer event in this small town in the municipality of Rotondi, at the western edge of the Avellino province, in Campania. The concept is simple and deeply rooted in local identity: to bring the memory of the Valle Caudina's rural world back to the heart of the village for two nights—a world defined by field labor, traditional peasant cuisine, songs, and dancing on the threshing floor. This is not a museum reconstruction, but a genuine, popular festival built by the residents for the residents, and open to all visitors from neighboring towns.

From 2018 to today: a recent but solid history

The first edition took place on August 5, 2018, and immediately saw surprising turnout, with audiences arriving from surrounding valley towns. It was promoted by the APS Per Vivere Campizze, an association of about fifty members founded just months earlier with the declared goal of creating opportunities for social gathering and growth in a village at risk of depopulation. President Monica Mainolfi described it as a winning bet, thanks to the volunteer work of members who combined gastronomy, traditions, folk music, and stage effects.

In the following years, the festival solidified: the fourth edition, in the summer of 2023, brought Nello Iorio and the Frank Iron Band to the stage before a large crowd, in an evening dedicated to the memory of three figures dear to the community. In 2025, the fifth edition occupied the Villa Comunale of Campizze for two full days, Saturday, August 2, and Sunday, August 3.

What to find at the Country Festival

The formula, repeated year after year, rests on four ingredients that the organizers summarize as follows:

• Folklore: costumes, scenes of rural life, and displays recalling the ancient trades of the Irpinian countryside.
• Live music: orchestras and groups from the Campanian folk tradition, with square dancing as the central moment of the evening.
• Gastronomy: stalls managed by association volunteers, featuring traditional peasant dishes and local wines.
• Cabaret: comedic interludes and entertainment shows between musical sets.

Everything takes place outdoors, in the spaces of the Villa Comunale and adjacent streets, in a family atmosphere that is perhaps the most recognizable hallmark of the event: people come to eat, but above all to meet.

The 2026 edition: July 31 and August 1

For 2026, the Per Vivere Campizze association has announced the sixth edition, set for Friday, July 31, and Saturday, August 1. The first evening opens at 9:00 PM with the Festa in Piazza con Gigione, one of the most popular names in Neapolitan ballroom-style pop music, capable of attracting audiences well beyond the village borders. The full program for the two days is traditionally released by the association in the days immediately preceding the event via social media channels and posters displayed in the village.

An all-volunteer organizational machine

Behind the festival is a collective effort involving much more than just the members: over the years, the municipal administration of Rotondi, the Maria SS. della Stella confraternity, the Partenio Rangers, civil protection groups, and local volunteer associations have collaborated, alongside numerous local businesses that support the event with financial and logistical contributions. It is this fabric of collaboration that allows a village of few souls to host thousands of visitors for two nights.

Rotondi and the Valle Caudina

Rotondi is located at the foot of the Partenio massif, on the border between the provinces of Avellino and Benevento, along the historic axis of the Valle Caudina that connects Naples to inner Irpinia. It is a territory of olive groves, vegetable gardens, and small villages, where summer is marked by a busy calendar of food festivals and patronal feasts. The Campizze Country Festival fits naturally into this circuit and represents, for those visiting Campania in summer, an authentic opportunity to experience village life far from the most beaten tourist paths.