Car Boot Fair and Snail Festival of Fontanavecchia
Open trunks, vintage finds, and snails in the village of Fontanavecchia, in the Benevento Sannio region
About Faicchio Car Boot Fair
A market born from a car trunk
The Car Boot Fair is an informal and increasingly popular market where parked cars become actual stalls: exhibitors open their trunks, display their items on the tailgate or a small table beside the vehicle, and share the stories behind their goods. It is the classic British car boot sale format, reinterpreted within the villages of the Sannio region. Fontanavecchia, a hamlet of the municipality of Faicchio in the Province of Benevento (Campania), provides the perfect backdrop: stone alleys, ancient olive mills, and surrounding woods.
Between one car and the next, you will find vintage clothing, out-of-print books, rare vinyl records, antique toys, comics, musical instruments, restored small furniture, brocante items, accessories, and collectibles. This is not a commercial trade fair; it is a participatory event where sellers are often enthusiasts, and haggling is part of the fun.
The Snail and Tammorra Festival
The fair takes place alongside the Snail and Traditions Festival of Fontanavecchia, also known as the Snail and Tammorra Festival: the village's historic event, which reached its seventeenth edition in 2026. The absolute star is the snail, cooked according to traditional Sannio family recipes: stewed, 'alla pecorara' style, fried, or seasoned with mint.
Alongside the snail stands, the menu features grilled Benevento meats, local cured meats and cheeses, traditional pasta dishes, and Sannio wines, with Falanghina leading the way. The food stalls are set up in the historic center and open in the late afternoon, allowing dinner to naturally turn into a stroll among the stalls and music.
Folk music, alleys, and olive mills
The second soul of the festival is the tammorra, the traditional drum of the Campania region. Folk music groups move through the village streets, cellars, and olive mills playing pizzica, tammurriata, and taranta, in a roving format that organizers call 'Tammurriando a Fontanavecchia': not a single stage, but many corners that come alive one after another. Street artists, jugglers, and fire-eaters complete the picture.
- Food stands in the village serving snails prepared according to local recipes
- Car Boot Fair stalls featuring vintage items, vinyl, books, and collectibles
- Roving folk music through alleys, cellars, and ancient olive mills
- Street artists, jugglers, and fire-eaters
- Guided tours of ancient olive mills and the medieval village of Faicchio
Why it is worth the trip to the Sannio region
Faicchio is located in the Titerno Valley, between the Matese massif and the Volturno River, in an area of the Benevento Sannio where rural culture is still visible in the landscape: terraces, olive groves, and stone mills. Here, the snail is not an exotic culinary curiosity but a traditional peasant dish, always harvested and cooked locally; the tammurriata is the celebration that accompanied the cycles of work in the fields. Combining these two roots with a car trunk full of objects from a previous life gives the event a character that is hard to find elsewhere.
Admission to the Car Boot Fair and the Snail Festival is free: you only pay for what you eat, drink, and buy. It is an event suitable for families, those looking for vintage markets, and anyone wanting to experience Sannio cuisine without tourist filters. It takes about an hour to drive from Naples, and the visit can be extended to the medieval village of Faicchio and the nearby towns of the Titerno valley.
Faicchio Car Boot Fair — edition 2026
In 2026, the village of Fontanavecchia, a hamlet of Faicchio in the Province of Benevento, hosted the seventeenth edition of the Snail and Traditions Festival from June 5th to 7th, with the Car Boot Fair scheduled for the evenings of Saturday the 6th and Sunday the 7th.
During the three evenings, the food stands in the historic center opened at 7:00 PM, featuring snails prepared according to ancient local recipes, grilled Benevento meats, local cured meats and cheeses, traditional pasta dishes, and Sannio wines. Among the stone alleys, cellars, and ancient olive mills, folk music groups alternated with pizzica, tammurriata, and taranta, along with street artists, jugglers, and fire-eaters.
The Car Boot Fair brought its now-recognizable format to the village: cars with open trunks transformed into stalls, where visitors could search for vintage clothing, vinyl, out-of-print books, antique toys, comics, restored small furniture, and collectibles. Free admission, with food and purchases paid for separately.
Programme Faicchio Car Boot Fair 2026
Snail and Traditions Festival — June 5, 6, and 7, 2026
- Stand opening: every evening from 7:00 PM, in the historic center of Fontanavecchia.
- Menu: snails according to traditional Sannio recipes (stewed, 'alla pecorara', fried, with mint), grilled Benevento meats, local cured meats and cheeses, traditional pasta dishes, Sannio wines including Falanghina.
- Tammurriando a Fontanavecchia: roving folk music groups through the village streets, cellars, and olive mills, with pizzica, tammurriata, and taranta.
- Street artists: jugglers and fire-eaters in the alleys and small squares.
- Guided tours: ancient olive mills of the village and the medieval village of Faicchio.
- Insights: moments dedicated to snail farming and natural cosmetics based on snail slime.
Car Boot Fair — June 6 and 7, 2026
- Hours: Saturday and Sunday from 6:00 PM to midnight.
- Format: exhibitors open their car trunk and can add a small table next to the vehicle.
- Merchandise: vintage, rare books, hard-to-find vinyl, antique toys, comics, clothing, accessories, household items, restored small furniture, brocante, and collectibles.
Details on artists and evening schedules are shared by the organizers on the social media channels of the two events.
Highlights Faicchio Car Boot Fair 2026
- Fontanavecchia snails cooked according to Sannio family recipes
- Car trunks transformed into stalls for vintage, vinyl, and collectibles
- Roving pizzica, tammurriata, and taranta through alleys, cellars, and olive mills
- Guided tours of ancient olive mills and the medieval village of Faicchio
- Free admission for all three evenings
Prices Faicchio Car Boot Fair 2026
Practical information — Faicchio Car Boot Fair
How to get there
Fontanavecchia is a hamlet of the municipality of Faicchio (Province of Benevento, Campania). The most convenient way to travel is by car: it takes just over an hour from Naples. The village is small with stone alleys, so it is best to leave your car in the parking areas at the entrance of the hamlet and continue on foot. Those participating in the Car Boot Fair as exhibitors, however, bring their cars into the fair area, as the trunk itself is the stall.
Hours and prices
Free admission to both events. The food stands of the Snail Festival open at 7:00 PM; the Car Boot Fair takes place on weekend evenings, roughly from 6:00 PM to midnight. You only pay for consumption at the stands and items purchased from exhibitors, generally in cash: it is advisable to bring cash as not all stalls accept electronic payments.
Tips
- Wear comfortable shoes: the village is hilly with stone surfaces.
- Evenings in the inland Sannio region can be cool even in June: a light sweater is useful.
- For the vintage market, it is best to arrive early while the trunks are still full.
- To participate as an exhibitor in the Car Boot Fair, membership in the organizing association is required: information at fieradelbagagliaio.com.
Contacts
Car Boot Fair: [email protected], tel. +39 342 0331668. Snail Festival of Fontanavecchia: [email protected], tel. +39 340 5893581.
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Where does it take place — Faicchio Car Boot Fair
Borgo di Fontanavecchia
Località Fontanavecchia, 82030 Faicchio