Festivities in Honor of the Madonna di Carpignano (with Pork Festival)

A Marian festival in the heart of Irpinia

The Festivities in Honor of the Madonna di Carpignano take place every year in the village of Carpignano, a small hamlet of a few hundred inhabitants perched at over 600 meters above sea level, about five kilometers from the center of the Municipality of Grottaminarda, in the Province of Avellino, Campania. The festival traditionally falls around the first Sunday of September and brings together, in addition to the locals, devotees from the Ufita Valley and the Baronia, who ascend to the Sanctuary on foot or in a procession.

The Sanctuary and the legend of the hornbeam

The heart of the event is the Sanctuary of Maria Santissima di Carpignano, managed by the Mercedarian Fathers since 1901. Tradition tells that in 1150, inside the trunk of a large hornbeam (carpino) — the tree that gave the locality its name — a painted panel depicting the Virgin with the Child was found: a first chapel was built around that tree. The panel, whose support was dated to the 12th century during a 2004 restoration, today shows a 16th-century repainting with the Madonna enthroned in a starry mantle and is considered one of the few «Black Madonna» images still preserved in Irpinia. The current sanctuary was erected in 1910, after the arrival of the Mercedarians and the construction of the convent in 1907, and since 1998 it has belonged to the Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia.

The rites: processions, candlelight vigil, and blessing of the oxen

The religious aspect is the most deeply felt. During the festival days, the statue descends in a procession toward Grottaminarda before returning to the Sanctuary, while on Sunday, solemn celebrations presided over by bishops and prelates take place, along with the procession through the districts and the center of Carpignano, accompanied by local brass bands. Two moments are particularly iconic:

• The blessing of the oxen, which evokes the legend of the furrow traced by the plow from Flumeri to Carpignano;
• The motorcycle rally, with a ride and blessing of the vehicles, a contemporary version of the same tradition of protection;
• The spring candlelight vigil, on May 1st, when pilgrims of all ages reach the Sanctuary at night with lit candles, assisted by local volunteers.

The Pork Festival and the secular events

Alongside the liturgy, the Festival Committee organizes the secular program: musical evenings in the square with dance groups and revivals, folk orchestras, cabaret, DJ sets, and — in some editions — a midnight pyromusical show. For some years now, the highlight has been the Pork Festival, which reached its fourth edition in 2025, offering traditional pork preparations and typical Irpinian products accompanied by folk music and the sound of the bottari. The combination of gastronomic festival and patronal feast is what makes the Carpignano event particularly popular throughout Irpinia.

Part of the Grottese Summer

The festivities conclude the Grottese Summer program, the summer calendar coordinated by the Municipality of Grottaminarda together with local associations and committees, which also includes the Festa della Cappelluzza in early July and the historic Festone at the end of August. Visitors arriving in Irpinia during these days can therefore combine a visit to the Sanctuary with other events in the town.

Why it is worth the trip

Carpignano offers what one seeks in a festival of the Southern interior: an ancient sanctuary immersed in greenery, a small community that mobilizes entirely, agricultural rites that have survived for centuries, and a generous table. It is not an event built for tourism, but a real festival, and for this very reason, it provides an authentic portrait of inland Campania.