Faeto Ham Festival

One of the oldest festivals in Puglia

The Faeto Ham Festival is a historic highlight of the Apulian summer, now boasting over sixty editions. It takes place in the Municipality of Faeto, a small village in the Monti Dauni area in the province of Foggia, in the heart of the Subappennino Dauno. At over 800 meters above sea level, Faeto is one of the highest towns in Puglia, dominated by Monte Cornacchia (1,152 m), the highest peak in the region. The festival is traditionally held on the first Sunday of August in the picturesque Bosco di Faeto, where tasting stalls are set up in the shade of the trees.

Faeto dry-cured ham, a signature product

The heart of the festival is the Faeto dry-cured ham, a product recognized as a Traditional Agri-food Product (P.A.T.) of Puglia. It is processed according to ancient methods, salted with salt from the Margherita di Savoia salt pans, and aged in the mountains among the woods at an altitude of 1,000 meters, where the fresh, breezy air promotes natural maturation. During the festival, you can taste the ham hand-sliced, accompanied by other local cured meats such as lardo, pancetta, capocollo, dry sausage, and soppressata, as well as goat cheeses, wood-fired bread, and local red wines.

Beyond taste: culture, nature, and tradition

The event combines gastronomy, culture, and entertainment. In addition to the tastings, the program includes a market of typical and artisanal products run by local producers, guided tours to points of interest in the village—such as the Church of SS. Salvatore—and nature trails among springs and fountains. The day is accompanied by folk music, songs, and traditional dances of the Daunian tradition, in a blend of flavors, sounds, and colors.

Faeto, the Franco-Provençal island of Puglia

What makes Faeto unique is its identity: along with the nearby Celle di San Vito, it is one of the two Franco-Provençal linguistic minority communities in Puglia. Its origins date back to 1266, when a group of Provençal soldiers following Charles I of Anjou settled in these mountains, bringing with them a language and culture from beyond the Alps that remain vibrant today. It is no coincidence that the festival retains its dialectal name «Fête de lu Presutte de Faìte». Participating means discovering, beyond an excellent cured meat, a corner of Puglia unlike any other, defined by mountains, forests, and medieval memory.