Friendship Festival

A village festival overlooking the Cilento sea

The Friendship Festival is the summer event that brings residents and holidaymakers together at the port of Montecorice, located on the coast of the Agnone Cilento district in the province of Salerno. The name says it all: more than just a classic food festival, it is a celebration born to bring people together, where food and music serve as a pretext to reconnect with neighbors, friends, and visitors. The formula is simple and proven: food stalls run by volunteers, open-air communal tables, a stage for music, and the Tyrrhenian breeze accompanying the evening until late.

Who organizes it and why

The festival is promoted by the Municipality of Montecorice in collaboration with the Montecorice Eventi Association, the group of volunteers that has been enlivening the village's summer calendar for years. The event has a clear charitable mission: in 2025, all proceeds from the Friendship Festival were donated to the restoration works of the Church of San Biagio, one of the iconic landmarks of Montecorice's historic center. This is a hallmark of many Cilento festivals, where organization is entrusted to the community's volunteer work, and profits return to the village in the form of restorations, public works, and local initiatives.

The cuisine: Cilento on a plate

The heart of the festival remains the table. The stalls offer traditional Cilento peasant and maritime dishes, prepared on-site and served in hearty portions. Recent editions have featured:

• Cavatelli with meat sauce, the fresh homemade pasta that is a symbol of Cilento cuisine
• Eggplant rolls and French fries
• Sausage sandwiches and grilled arrosticini
• Fried pizza and zeppole, the great classics of Campanian street food
• Cilento cannoli, the perfect sweet treat to end the evening
• Beer and local wine to pair with your meal

In the 2022 edition, when the festival took place in the historic center, the menu also included fusilli with sauce, sfriuonzolo, corn, and local pastries: simple, rustic cuisine in the noblest sense, made from local ingredients and family-passed recipes.

Music and atmosphere

The musical program is what keeps the port buzzing until late. In 2025, the two evenings featured DJ sets and themed traveling shows: a dance night with rhythmic selections and a second evening dedicated to a musical journey through the seventies, eighties, and nineties, with video mixes of the most famous hits from those decades. The setting is that of a popular open-air festival: free admission, an audience of all ages, families with children, groups of friends, and tourists coming down from the hillside hamlets.

Montecorice, between hills and sea

Montecorice is a small municipality in Campania, in the province of Salerno, nestled in the heart of the Cilento region between Castellabate, Perdifumo, San Mauro Cilento, and Serramezzana. The municipal territory stretches from the hillside hamlets—Ortodonico, Cosentini, Fornelli, Giungatelle, Zoppi—down to the coast of Agnone Cilento and Case del Conte, where the locality of San Nicola a Mare, home to the port, is located. It is a landscape of great beauty, situated within the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, characterized by beaches, coves, and an inland area of olive groves and stone villages.

Why it's worth visiting

The Friendship Festival is not a massive event with thousands of spectators; it is exactly the kind of gathering you look for when you want to experience what summer is really like in a Cilento village. You eat well, spend little, dance by the sea, and meet the community that organizes everything firsthand. For those vacationing on the Cilento coast, it is also an opportunity to discover the port of Montecorice, a small, quiet harbor that transforms into the village's living room during these August nights.

The Montecorice summer calendar

The festival is part of a summer packed with events in the Municipality of Montecorice, which throughout the season also hosts the Velia Teatro Festival in Ortodonico, the Birrando Montecorice Beer Fest, and the Montecorice DiWine Jazz Festival. Those staying in the area in August can easily plan an itinerary of different evenings just a few kilometers apart.