Il Passo Antico

A festival that wanders through the courtyards

Il Passo Antico is the festival that, every autumn, turns back the clock in Pernosano, a small hamlet in the municipality of Pago del Vallo di Lauro, in the province of Avellino, in the heart of Campania. This is not your typical festival with a single stand in the main square: here, the food and wine trail starts from via Marco Longo and winds through the alleys and courtyards of the village, which for the occasion fill up with people, period costumes, music, and aromas. You walk slowly, step into a courtyard, taste, listen to a song, and head to the next one: hence the name of the event, which represents both a slow pace and a step into the past.

The flavors of rural cuisine

Each courtyard features a different station, with dishes that tell the story of the humble cuisine of the Vallo di Lauro—a cuisine made of legumes, forest fruits, and whatever the vegetable garden and the pig provided. Among the dishes featured in recent years:

• Pasta and beans with pork rinds, the signature dish for cold October days;
• Hazelnut spaghetti, a tribute to the hazelnut, the star product of agriculture in the Vallo di Lauro and the Nola area;
• Tripe and braised meat, cooked just as they were in home kitchens of the past;
• Fried meatballs and cornmeal pizza with broccoli, two classics of the oldest Campanian table;
• Roasted chestnuts, a must-have in the Irpinian autumn.

Each tasting is paired with local wine, served directly in the courtyards by the village families and volunteers.

Tammurriate, tarantellas, and folk songs

The music is far from just background noise. The evenings are marked by folk music, traditional songs, tammurriate, and tarantellas: the tammorra, the large frame drum of the Campanian tradition, sets the rhythm and drives the dancing until late at night. Past editions have featured local groups dedicated to rediscovering the folk repertoire, such as I Giovani della Tammorra di Bagni and La Nuova Cantica I Bottari, carriers of traditional Neapolitan rhythms. This music is anything but a touristy performance: it is still a living part of village festivals.

Tools of yesteryear

Along the route, the courtyards host an exhibition of antique agricultural tools and period costumes: plows, baskets, wine presses, and household utensils that tell the story of field work before mechanization. This is the most educational part of the event, highly appreciated by families and children, who often see the tools their great-grandparents used for the first time.

Pernosano, the village and its valley

Pago del Vallo di Lauro is a small municipality of just under two thousand inhabitants, divided into the two hamlets of Pernosano and Sopravia. We are in the westernmost corner of the province of Avellino, in the Vallo di Lauro, which acts as a bridge between Irpinia and the Nola plain, just a few kilometers from the border with the Metropolitan City of Naples. It is a land of hazelnut groves, chestnut forests, and ancient agricultural courtyards, where the urban structure of the villages—made of narrow alleys and closed courtyards shared by multiple families—is perfectly suited to an itinerant festival like this.

Who organizes it

The event was born from the Pernosano community and is promoted by the Comitato Festa Maria SS. delle Grazie together with the Pro Loco, with the patronage and collaboration of the Municipality of Pago del Vallo di Lauro. All the work, from the kitchen to the setup of the courtyards, is entrusted to the village volunteers: this, even more than the food, is the true hallmark of Il Passo Antico.

When it takes place

The event is traditionally scheduled for the first weekends of October, when the chestnut season and autumn festivals begin in Irpinia. In 2025, the eighth edition took place from October 3rd to 5th; in 2023, the sixth edition was held on October 13th and 14th. The dates for the 2026 edition have not yet been announced by the organizers.