Fiano Festival

Fiano di Avellino DOCG takes center stage in Aiello del Sabato

The Fiano Festival is an annual event held every September that turns the historic center of Aiello del Sabato—a small town in the province of Avellino, Campania—into a sprawling, immersive wine trail dedicated to Fiano di Avellino DOCG. This is not your typical wine fair under a tent; here, wineries set up shop in the village's courtyards, entryways, and piazzas, allowing guests to wander from one tasting to the next, following the natural layout of the town. This unique format has made the event one of the most recognizable highlights of the Irpinian wine calendar, located just a few kilometers from the city of Avellino.

A widespread festival, not a trade show

The core concept is simple: connect visitors directly with the winemakers. Tasting stations are scattered throughout the old town and managed by the vintners themselves, who share stories about the harvest, Irpinia's volcanic soils, and the nuances between different hillsides. The audience is diverse, which is central to the festival's identity: sommeliers and wine lovers mingle with newcomers, locals, families, and tourists exploring the Irpinian Sannio.

Giro Fiano: the walking masterclass

The most original feature of the event is the Giro Fiano, a masterclass reimagined as a guided walk. Instead of sitting in a room with a row of glasses, small groups are led through the village, meeting producers in their own spaces and tasting labels on-site with expert commentary. It is a way to link the tasting experience to the landscape and urban fabric of Aiello del Sabato, avoiding the rigidity of a traditional technical lecture.

Fiano Hour and Fiano sul Divano

Alongside the Giro Fiano, the festival offers two recurring highlights:

• Fiano Hour — the most accessible way to enjoy the event, designed for those who want to explore the denomination without commitment: five different labels to taste at a set price during the early evening.
• Fiano sul Divano — short, informal talks held in armchairs with industry experts, journalists, and producers, who share a bottle while discussing market trends, wine styles, and the future of the denomination.

Each edition is built around a theme that sets the tone for the discussions: in 2025, for example, the theme LAMERICA focused on the prospects of the wine sector and international market tensions.

Music, art, and crafts along the trail

The Fiano Festival is about more than just wine. Throughout the streets, street bands, concerts, and DJ sets keep the energy high until late at night, while art installations and performances animate the town squares. The gastronomic side is equally well-curated, featuring street food and local specialties: Irpinian cured meats and cheeses, pizza, grilled meats, and contemporary cuisine designed to pair perfectly with a structured white wine like Fiano.

Why Fiano di Avellino matters

Fiano di Avellino is, along with Greco di Tufo and Taurasi, one of the three DOCG wines of Irpinia and one of the Italian white wines with the greatest aging potential. It originates from an ancient grape variety grown on clay and volcanic soils in a cool hilly area, resulting in wines with great mineral tension destined to evolve over time. A single-theme festival like this allows you to grasp these nuances by comparing dozens of different interpretations in just a few hours, all produced within a few kilometers.

A village that opens its doors for three evenings

The added value of Aiello del Sabato is its scale: a compact village that is entirely walkable, where the festival is not an enclosure but a temporary occupation of public space. Visitors arriving in the evening find the center closed to traffic, lights glowing in the doorways, and a continuous flow of people moving between stations. It is also an excellent base for extending your trip through Irpinia's wine country, exploring the hills of Lapio, Montefredane, Santo Stefano del Sole, and Candida, and discovering a side of Campania far removed from the coast.