Fritti in Festa — Cilento Fried Food Festival

A festival dedicated to traditional Cilento fried food

Fritti in Festa, also known as the Cilento Fried Food Festival, is the mid-August event that the Municipality of Prignano Cilento, in the province of Salerno (Campania), dedicates to the street food of the Cilento region. For one evening, Piazza Municipio transforms into a large open-air kitchen: the aroma of hot oil and leavened dough greets those arriving on foot from the town's alleys, those coming down from the hamlets, and those escaping the crowded beaches of the coast.

The event is part of the village's summer calendar, a program that runs from late July to September, alternating between food festivals, open-air theater performances, children's evenings, and religious celebrations. Fritti in Festa represents its most delicious and informal chapter: no ceremony, just shared tables, lively conversation, and dishes served piping hot straight from the pan.

Fried pizza, the queen of the evening

At the heart of the festival is the fried pizza, described by the organizers as the queen of Cilento street food. Long-leavened dough, plunged into boiling oil and served steaming: it is a humble dish, born in peasant kitchens as a way to avoid wasting leftover bread dough, which has become a culinary symbol shared across all of Campania. In Cilento, it is eaten plain, lightly salted, or stuffed with tomatoes and garden-fresh produce.

Alongside the fried pizza, you will find other traditional local fried specialties, prepared by volunteers following family recipes. Cilento's fried food showcases a cuisine of essential ingredients—flour, water, extra virgin olive oil, seasonal vegetables—that never needed to be rich to be delicious.

Music and village atmosphere

The culinary experience is intertwined with musical entertainment in the square. For the August 17, 2025 edition, the soundtrack was provided by '70 Nights, with a video mix of hits from the seventies, eighties, and nineties that turned the evening into a dance party under the stars. It is the typical formula for Cilento festivals: first you eat, standing or at shared tables, then you stay in the square until late at night.

Prignano Cilento, a village in the Cilento hinterland

With just over a thousand inhabitants, Prignano Cilento is one of the smallest municipalities in the province of Salerno. It sits on the hills that divide the Alento valley from the sea, a short distance from Agropoli and the archaeological site of Paestum, and is part of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a village of stone houses, courtyards, and ancient ovens, where the Mediterranean diet is not a tourist slogan but the way people have always eaten.

What to expect

• Fried pizza prepared on the spot, the absolute star of the evening
• Other traditional Cilento fried specialties
• Open-air event in the heart of the town, in Piazza Municipio
• Live music or video mix with popular and danceable repertoire
• Family-friendly and informal atmosphere, suitable for children
• Food purchased at stalls, following the traditional village festival format

The 2026 edition

As of the update date of this page, the 2026 calendar for Fritti in Festa has not yet been published. In recent years, the event has been held in mid-August as part of the town's summer program: it is therefore advisable to follow the channels of the Municipality of Prignano Cilento and the local Pro Loco, as well as the Cilento press, to find out the exact date and program for the next edition. Those visiting the area in summer will find a busy calendar of festivals in nearby villages, from Agropoli to Torchiara, and from Rutino to Ogliastro Cilento.