Cilento White Fig Festival

A festival born around a fruit

The Cilento White Fig Festival takes place every year in late August in the San Giuseppe district, a rural hamlet of the municipality of Giungano. Located in the heart of the Cilento region and Campania, this small town of just over 1,300 inhabitants in the province of Salerno transforms for five consecutive evenings into a culinary trail dedicated to the Cilento White Fig (DOP). This fruit has made the village a true agricultural capital, as Giungano alone accounts for approximately 80% of the regional harvest.

The Cilento White Fig (DOP)

The Cilento White Fig is one of Italy's protected dried fig products, holding the Protected Designation of Origin status. It grows on the hills sloping down toward the Sele plain, where the mild climate and dry soil produce a fruit with a light, incredibly sweet, and fragrant pulp. At the festival, the fig is more than just a theme; it is the star ingredient across the entire menu, reinterpreted in both rustic and gourmet styles.

• Dried figs stuffed according to family recipes
• Artisan jams and fig-based liqueurs
• Traditional Cilento desserts
• Savory dishes such as sausage with fig sauce, fig pizza, and fritters
• Appetizers pairing figs with local cheeses

The menu, from appetizer to dessert

The festival's long-standing formula is summarized by a phrase the organizers have repeated for years: a menu "based on figs, from appetizer to dessert." The Pro Loco food stalls open in the early evening and remain active until late at night, offering everything from humble Cilento peasant dishes to creative reinterpretations. Starting with the 2025 edition, gluten-free options were introduced to ensure the tasting experience is accessible to everyone.

Folk music and Southern traditions

The festival is about more than just food. Every evening, the district hosts concerts of Southern Italian folk music: tammurriate, tarantelle, and traditional Cilento and Neapolitan songs, performed by local folk groups and artists connected to the Neapolitan tradition. Artisan markets, cooking workshops, photography exhibitions, and themed meetings with food industry experts take place around the stalls, while illuminated alleys and street games recreate the atmosphere of old-fashioned village festivals.

A project by the Pro Loco of Giungano

The event is organized by the Pro Loco of Giungano with the patronage of the municipality. It has grown edition after edition to become one of the most anticipated food and wine events of the Cilento summer: the eighth edition was held in 2024, the ninth in 2025, and the tenth in 2026. The result is a celebration that combines the promotion of a DOP product with the support of local producers and a sense of community that brings everyone together.

Giungano and the surrounding Cilento

Visitors arriving for the festival can take the opportunity to discover an off-the-beaten-path corner of Cilento. The historic center of Giungano preserves ancient palaces and the Church of Santa Maria dell'Assunta, offering a panoramic view over the Sele plain. A few kilometers away are the Greek temples of Paestum, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the beaches of Capaccio Paestum and Agropoli. Behind the town lies the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, with its hilltop villages and hiking trails—a location that allows you to combine the sea, archaeology, and gastronomy in a single day.