Lamb Festival

A festival that tells the story of the Sannio pastoral culture

The Lamb Festival is one of the longest-running gastronomic events in the Alto Tammaro area: in 2025, it celebrated its 47th edition, a number that speaks volumes about a decades-old tradition rooted in the town of Santa Croce del Sannio, in the Province of Benevento (Campania). This is no ordinary food festival: the lamb served on the tables is raised on pastures along the regio tratturo, the ancient grassy path of transhumance that crosses the local territory and for centuries connected the Apennine highlands to the southern plains. The festival was born precisely to promote this meat and, with it, an entire way of life in the mountains.

Lamb takes center stage in Piazza Roma

The stage for the event is Piazza Roma, the village's living room, where volunteers from the Pro Loco Santa Croce del Sannio set up food stalls and long outdoor tables. The highlight is the lamb, prepared according to local peasant recipes and paired with Sannio wines. The formula is the classic one for Apennine festivals, and it has worked for decades: a few dishes, done well, served in abundance at popular prices, with the association members handling the cooking and service.

• Lamb raised on pastures along the royal sheep track, cooked according to local tradition
• Typical products of the Alto Tammaro and Sannio Beneventano wines
• Live music to brighten up the evening in the square
• Open-air dining in the village center, in an authentic festive atmosphere

Part of the Santa Croce Summer program

The Lamb Festival is not an isolated event: it is the most anticipated moment of the Estate Santacrocese, the summer program curated by the Pro Loco that runs from late July to the end of August, featuring theatrical performances in the historic center, open-air cinema, musical evenings, dancing in the square, and excursions along the royal sheep track. A few days after the lamb, it is the turn of another local excellence: the Scamorza Festival, which reached its 41st edition in 2025 and, together with its older sibling, forms the gastronomic duo of mid-August.

Santa Croce del Sannio, a village at nearly 700 meters

Arriving here means climbing to an altitude of 689 meters, in the upper Tammaro valley, where the Campanian Apennines border Molise. The village has just over eight hundred inhabitants and preserves a medieval historic center with 18th-century palaces, stone portals, and coats of arms. Must-sees include the Church of Santa Croce, which gives the village its name and was rebuilt by the Franciscans in 1245, the Church of the Assumption with its beautiful local limestone facade, and the Church of San Sebastiano from 1536, dedicated to the patron saint. Santa Croce del Sannio is also the birthplace of the economist and reformer Giuseppe Maria Galanti and the papyrologist Girolamo Vitelli.

A calendar of festivals throughout the year

The village's community spirit does not end in August. The Santa Croce Carnival, with its historical 'Pace' performance re-enacting the legendary salvation of the village from Saracen raids, the Good Friday procession, the Feast of Saint Anthony on June 13th, and the patronal feast of Saint Sebastian mark the year for a small but tenacious community. However, the Lamb Festival remains the moment when the village truly fills up: emigrants returning for the holidays, families from neighboring towns — Morcone, Circello, Castelpagano, Cercemaggiore — and curious visitors looking for an authentic, non-touristy festival.

Why it's worth a stop

Those looking for the mass-tourism version of Campania won't find it here. Instead, they will find something rarer: a festival that hasn't changed its identity in nearly half a century, a product with a precise geographical history — the sheep track, the pasture, the transhumance — and a village square that for one night becomes everyone's dining room. It is the most direct way to understand the Benevento hinterland, a place that major tourist routes in Campania almost always skip.