Feast of Maria SS. Annunziata — Flight of the Angels

The Flight of the Angels, the heart of the feast

In the Municipality of Prata di Principato Ultra, in the province of Avellino, in the heart of Irpinia and thus of Campania, the feast in honor of Maria SS.ma Annunziata is much more than a patronal festival: it is the moment when the entire community recognizes itself in an ancient gesture. At the end of the Eucharistic Celebration on Saturday, and again on the Sunday in Albis, two local girls — the so-called Nunziatine — are secured with a bodice to a steel cable stretched about ten meters from the ground, between the Archbasilica and the trees in the square. Suspended in the air, wearing white robes and wings, they sing the Ave, the invocation to the Virgin, in front of hundreds of faithful who arrive from all over Irpinia and beyond.

The scene reproduces the Annunciation made by the Angels to Mary: the flight ends when one of the angels places a white lily in the hands of the Madonna. It is a short ritual, lasting only a few minutes, but of great emotional intensity, which moves those who witness it for the first time every year.

A tradition of presumed medieval origins

The sacred performance is of presumed medieval origins and is grafted onto a much older cult: the devotion to the Virgin Annunziata in Prata is attested by liturgical books of the Roman tradition that trace the roots of the cult to the first Christian centuries. The ritual, however, has also transformed over time. Originally, women from Naples, wearing helmets and wigs, played the angels; only starting from the 1920s and 1930s, thanks to the Medugno family, the role passed to the girls of the village, making the performance more authentic and deeply communal.

The Archbasilica of Maria SS.ma Annunziata

The festival takes place around the monumental complex of the Archbasilica of Maria SS.ma Annunziata, one of the most significant places of worship in Irpinia, famous for its paleochristian basilica and the hypogeum carved into the tuff. The 2026 edition had a special value: after years of waiting and work, the Archbasilica fully reopened its ancient nave to the faithful, the oldest core of the sanctuary, returning to the community the place where generations of Prata residents have prayed.

The religious program

The calendar of festivities follows a consolidated pattern, marked by the liturgical calendar: the festival opens on the Saturday preceding the Sunday in Albis and closes the following Sunday.

• Daily Holy Rosary and Eucharistic Celebration in the Archbasilica
• Song of the Angels (the actual flight) on Saturday evening at the end of the mass
• Solemn night procession with the image of the Madonna through the streets of the village, accompanied by the band and fireworks
• Second performance of the flight on Sunday morning, before or at the end of the procession
• Return procession of the image to the Archbasilica, which closes the festivities the following Sunday

The civil program: band, lights, and music in the square

Alongside the rituals, the civil program, curated by the Annunziata Festival Committee, unfolds: illuminations light up the town, the brass band accompanies the parades — in recent years the «Città di Serino» band — and the evenings come alive with concerts and shows in Piazza P. Freda. Tribute bands, Italian pop music, and live groups alternate until late at night, while fireworks mark the solemn moments. Admission to all events is free.

Why come to Prata di Principato Ultra

Prata di Principato Ultra is a small village in the Sabato valley, a few kilometers from Avellino, and the Annunziata festival is the best opportunity to discover it. Visitors find a town that fills up with emigrants returning for the occasion, families, stalls, and the scents of Irpinian cuisine. It is a festival that unites the most intimate dimension of Campanian popular faith and the choral dimension of the square: the suspension of the Nunziatine in the sky, the silence that precedes the song, and the applause that follows remain among the most recognizable images of the Irpinian spring.