Circola - Sustainability Festival

Circola, the sustainability festival in Rocca San Felice

Circola is a festival dedicated to sustainability, culture, and community, held in the municipality of Rocca San Felice, a small village in the province of Avellino, in Campania. Established in 2023 by the Pro Loco Ansanto, the event takes over the streets, courtyards, and Piazza San Felice in the historic center for a few days each summer, nestled at the foot of the castle that overlooks the valley. The underlying idea is both simple and radical: to show that the circular economy is not an abstract concept, but a concrete way of living in an inland Irpinian town.

An Alta Irpinia village between Mefite and the castle

Rocca San Felice is located in the heart of Alta Irpinia, a short distance from the Valle d'Ansanto, home to the famous Mefite geosites—a sulfurous lake known since Samnite and Roman times as a place of worship. This natural and archaeological setting is more than just a backdrop for the festival: the excursions, trekking, and guided walks included in the program lead visitors along the very paths that connect the village to the valley, conveying the deepest meaning of the event: the bond between community and territory.

The Fiera del Bagagliaio and reuse markets

One of the most recognizable features of Circola is the Fiera del Bagagliaio, a traveling market where artisans, creatives, and individuals display and sell goods directly from the trunks of their cars. This format, free for both visitors and exhibitors, arrived in Irpinia from the Sannio region and complements the reuse markets, book swaps, and corners dedicated to vintage clothing. The result is a historic center that, for a few hours, becomes a large second-hand showcase where every object has a story to tell and a second life ahead.

Craft workshops and best practices

The Circola program dedicates ample space to workshops, which are free and open to all ages. Past editions have featured:

• workshops on creating luminarie (traditional light displays) and garlands, a hallmark of the Pro Loco Ansanto;
• weaving and fabric recycling workshops;
• meetings on beekeeping and sustainable food practices;
• demonstrations of solar kitchens;
• activities for children and families, such as the «Circolando per Rocca» treasure hunt.

Music, theater, and poetry slams

In the evening, the festival changes pace: live concerts in the square, theatrical performances, poetry readings, and the poetry slam—a verse-writing competition judged by a jury drawn from the audience—which has become one of the most popular events. There is no shortage of book presentations and public talks: in 2025, for example, the festival opened with a discussion on the future of inland areas, a central theme for a territory that has been living with depopulation for decades.

The communal table

The convivial dimension is an integral part of Circola. The lunch under the linden tree, served outdoors in the heart of the village, has become a tradition of the event: simple dishes of Irpinian cuisine, local products, and shared tables that complete the idea of a festival built more on relationships than on consumption.

When it takes place

Circola is traditionally held in July: the first edition took place on July 22-23, 2023, the second on July 20-21, 2024, and the third from July 11 to 13, 2025. Admission to village activities has always been free, with the exception of some guided excursions that require a contribution. To find out the updated dates, it is best to follow the social media channels of the Pro Loco Ansanto, which publishes the detailed program a few weeks before the event.