Festival of Ancient Flavors

The Festival of Ancient Flavors in Vallesaccarda

Every summer, in the heart of Alta Irpinia, the small village of Vallesaccarda (Avellino province, Campania) opens its streets for the Festival of Ancient Flavors, one of the most heartfelt food and wine events in this mountain corner bordering Puglia. This is no staged tourist attraction: it is a genuine celebration where the village, around the mid-August holiday, gathers around its traditional peasant cuisine and the people returning home.

The origins: welcoming back the emigrants

The festival stems from an old custom of the inland Irpinia villages. In early August, emigrants would return home, and to welcome them, the dishes of the past were prepared: genuine food made by expert hands, accompanied by the desire to be together and feel like a community, amidst songs, music, and dance. It is this memory that the IRIS Association wanted to revive, bringing back recipes and traditions that risked being lost, starting with iconic dishes like «lu puparuolo chino sott'a lu chiupp», the traditional stuffed pepper that sets the tone for the entire event.

What to eat

The tasting trail is the heart of the festival: no gourmet cuisine here, but the daily repertoire of Irpinian households, brought to the streets and served at stalls set up in the village center.

• Cavatelli and handmade pasta, served with homemade meat sauce;
• Wild boar stew, one of the most requested dishes of the evenings;
• Peasant soups and seasonal vegetables from the garden;
• Cured meats and cheeses from Alta Irpinia;
• Homemade desserts and artisanal liqueurs;
• Local wine, in a province that has made winemaking a vital part of its identity.

Folk music, dancing, and street performances

The feast is always accompanied by celebration. The evenings feature live folk music, traditional dances, and roving performances that move through the village streets and squares, while stalls offer local products and small-scale crafts. Past editions have featured local folk bands like Folk in Progress, with a repertoire alternating between folk songs, pizzica, and taranta, as well as lighter tunes that get all ages dancing. There are also games for children and guided tastings dedicated to rural culture.

A traveling festival returns home

The festival was born in Vallesaccarda about seventeen years ago. Over time, it took on a traveling format, visiting other towns in Alta Irpinia and bringing its formula of peasant cuisine and folk music elsewhere, before returning in 2025 to the village where it began: a homecoming that the organizers celebrated as a recovery of the event's roots.

The village and the territory

Vallesaccarda is located at an altitude of about 650 meters, in an area of ridges and woods marking the border between Campania and Puglia; it borders Trevico, Scampitella, San Sossio Baronia, and Anzano di Puglia, and is a town of just over a thousand inhabitants. The territory is well-known beyond the region for its gastronomic vocation and for the high-quality dining that has grown right here in a rural context. The festival represents its popular and collective version: the same ingredients, the same knowledge, but served in the square and shared with the whole village.

Why visit

Those looking for a festival built for mass tourism won't find it here. The Festival of Ancient Flavors is a community celebration, with affordable prices, outdoor communal tables, and an audience largely made up of local families and Irpinians who have returned for the summer. It is one of the best opportunities to understand what the cuisine of Alta Irpinia truly means, in a village that comes alive with songs and dances until late at night in the summer.