Corsa dei Tre Campanili

A classic of Irpinian running

The Corsa dei Tre Campanili is one of the longest-running road races in Irpinia. It takes place in Caposele, a municipality in the province of Avellino, in the upper Sele valley. For over forty years, it has brought together amateur and competitive runners on a course of about ten kilometers that connects the town center to the hamlet of Materdomini. This is no ordinary race: it is the sporting event around which the community gathers every summer, included in the Estate Caposelese calendar promoted by the Municipality of Caposele and the Pro Loco.

The course: ten kilometers of rolling hills

The route connects Caposele to Materdomini and back, with start and finish in Piazza Sanità, along Via Aldo Moro and Corso Sant'Alfonso. It is a challenging course, consisting of continuous climbs and descents, which rewards those who know how to manage their pace rather than those who start too fast. The official distance is indicated in federal calendars as approximately 9.8-10 km; while the course is not officially certified, this does not diminish the technical value of the event, with winners' times remaining in the 34-minute range.

• Start and finish: Piazza Sanità, Caposele
• Distance: approx. 10 km on road
• Elevation: continuous rolling hills between the town and the hamlet of Materdomini
• Level: regional FIDAL race open to Allievi, Juniores, Promesse, Seniores, and Master categories, both men and women

The 2026 edition

For 2026, the Corsa dei Tre Campanili is scheduled for Sunday, August 2nd, maintaining the early-month slot adopted in the previous two editions (August 4, 2024, and August 3, 2025). Registrations are managed online via the garepodistiche.com portal, with a deadline of July 30th and a cap of 200 participants; the event is announced as a joint FIDAL/EPS race, thus also open to members of sports promotion organizations.

The detailed schedule has not yet been released: it is advisable to follow the Pro Loco Caposele channels and the event's Facebook page for the final times for the meeting point, start, and awards ceremony.

Organizers

The event is organized by the Pro Loco Caposele together with the ARS - Amatori Running Sele association, with the support of the Municipality. At the federal level, the race is overseen by A.S.D. Carmax Camaldolese, which is listed as the organizing club in the FIDAL Campania calendar. In 2024, the race direction was entrusted to Daniele Caprio.

Recent editions

In 2024, the 46th edition was held on August 4th under summer rain that delayed the start by fifteen minutes: Ali Akinou (CarMax Camaldolese) won in 33'51" and Elena Popa (Running Saviano) in 44'56", with about one hundred athletes at the start and a team victory for Lions Valle Ufita. In the 45th edition, Yahya Kadiri won in 34'49" and Monica Alfano in 44'59". The 47th edition took place on Sunday, August 3, 2025, starting at 6:00 PM from Piazza Sanità.

Caposele, the city of springs

Caposele is known as the city of springs: the Sele river rises here, and the Pugliese Aqueduct, one of the longest in the world, begins here. The hamlet of Materdomini, a destination for pilgrimages linked to Saint Gerard Majella, is the second main inhabited area of the municipality and the natural reference point for the race course. Running here, in this corner of Campania bordering Basilicata, means crossing two different landscapes in just a few kilometers: the compact village of the valley and the plateau of the sanctuary.

The atmosphere

Those who have run the Tre Campanili speak above all of the hospitality: Piazza Sanità packed with people, the cheering along the roads, and the festive atmosphere that accompanies the awards ceremony. It is a village race in the best sense of the term, where the stopwatch results coexist with the conviviality of the Irpinian summer. This is also why the event remains one of the most anticipated appointments in the running calendar of the province of Avellino.