Casalbore Art Festival

An art festival in the heart of Irpinia

The Casalbore Art Festival is a cultural event that brings the historic center of Casalbore—a small town in the province of Avellino, Campania—to life every summer in early August. For two evenings, this village in the Miscano Valley becomes a sprawling stage where visual art, live music, theatre, poetry, and local culinary traditions intertwine throughout the ancient alleys and squares.

Born from a desire to revitalize the oldest part of the town, the festival is coordinated by artistic director Fabio Corso, the event's creator. It is promoted by the Pro Loco Pangea in collaboration with the Municipality of Casalbore, the Museo dei Castelli association, the literary café Il Funambolo, and a team of volunteers. Each edition revolves around a central theme that guides the works, installations, and performances: in 2025, it was “The Pencil” (“La Matita”), following previous concepts like “The Suitcase” (“La valigia”), all under the overarching manifesto title “Everything in a Thread” (“Tutto in un filo”).

Two squares, a journey of art and music

The heart of the event lies in Piazza Castello and Piazza Roma, situated at the foot of the Norman tower. These two stages are just a few dozen meters apart, allowing the audience to easily move from one performance to the next throughout the evening. The program typically features:

• literary presentations and meet-the-author sessions;
• live concerts by local musicians and nationally renowned singer-songwriters;
• theatrical and street theatre performances;
• artistic installations, painting, sculpture, and photography exhibitions;
• a visual arts competition with both a public and expert jury, followed by an awards ceremony;
• extemporaneous painting contests and spaces dedicated to instant photography;
• food stalls serving typical products from the Irpinia region.

The 2025 edition: “The Pencil”

The sixth edition took place on August 8th and 9th, 2025, under the theme “The Pencil”: the artist's tool chosen as a metaphor for renewal, resilience, resistance, and change, capable of drawing both real and imaginary lines within the Norman village.

Piazza Castello hosted the presentation of the book Diana de Rosa. La Pittrice Mai Esistita by Isabella Pedicini, a folk music concert by Ventalena, and, on the following evening, the awards ceremony for the Visual Arts Competition and the dixieland swing of the Dr. Jazz and The Dirty Bucks Swing Band. Piazza Roma featured the performance Carbonio: Un Atomo in Cerca d'Autore, the singer-songwriter stylings of Andrea Tartaglia, the Canovacci Scritti a Matita by the Compagnia Elvira, and a musical selection dedicated to cumbia, alongside various installations and photographic exhibitions scattered throughout the historic center.

Casalbore, a village of springs and sheep tracks

At an altitude of approximately 620 meters, Casalbore overlooks the Miscano Valley, at the northeastern edge of the province of Avellino. The historic center developed around the 12th-century Norman tower, which once controlled trade in the valley, and the town sits along the route of the Regio Tratturo Pescasseroli-Candela, the ancient transhumance path that connected Abruzzo to the Tavoliere delle Puglie. Known as the village of fifty springs, it also guards the nearby Italic temple of the Samnite age—the only known Samnite temple building in Irpinia—and the remains of the necropolis in the Spineto area.

It is precisely this blend of ancient stone and village life that gives the festival its unique atmosphere: performances take place outdoors, amidst an urban fabric of stairways, arches, and squares, attracting both residents and visitors who choose the Irpinia hinterland for their August evenings.

The 2026 edition

As of the update of this page, the organizers have not yet released the calendar or the theme for the 2026 edition. The event has historically taken place regularly in the first few days of August. To stay informed about the final dates and program, we recommend following the festival's and Pro Loco Pangea's social media pages, as well as announcements from the Municipality of Casalbore.