Le Finestre sul Sannio... and surroundings

A collective showcase of Sannio villages

Le Finestre sul Sannio... and surroundings is a food, wine, and cultural festival held in Puglianello, a town in the province of Benevento, in Campania. The concept is simple and quite original within the landscape of Campanian festivals: instead of celebrating a single product or tradition, the event opens "windows" onto neighboring towns, inviting them to bring their best offerings to the square. For an entire weekend, the village becomes the temporary capital of local cuisine and traditions from the Sannio and Alto Casertano areas.

The event is organized by the Borgo Sannita Cultural Association, chaired by Rosario Di Crosta, who also serves as artistic director. The stated goal is to create a meeting point for different communities, all united by the desire to promote their historical and cultural heritage.

Sixteen towns, one unique path

The heart of the event is the exhibition route that winds through the town: a succession of stalls managed by local pro loco associations and producers from the participating municipalities. The first edition saw the participation of sixteen towns from the Sannio and Alto Casertano areas, each showcasing their own local products, crafts, and artistic performances:

• Puglianello, Amorosi, Castelvenere, San Salvatore Telesino, San Lorenzello
• Faicchio and Massa di Faicchio, Cusano Mutri with the hamlet of Civitella, Pietraroja, San Lupo
• Torrecuso and Paupisi, in the Taburno hilly area
• Alife, Ruviano, and Alvignanello, on the Alto Casertano side

Among the specialties that have made a name for themselves is the cecatiello paupisano, a handmade pasta crafted by the women of Paupisi and brought to Puglianello by the local Pro Loco, which celebrates it every year with its own summer festival. Alongside traditional dishes, you will find cheeses, cured meats, desserts, preserves, olive oil, and wines from the Valle Telesina, one of the most recognizable wine-growing areas in the province of Benevento.

Music, comedy, and shows

The evenings feature a popular entertainment program, including dance orchestras, folk music groups, DJ sets, and cabaret. In 2025, the lineup included a folk dance show featuring pizzica and tammorra, a stop of the Radio Company Summer Tour, and an evening dedicated to the greatest hits of Italian dance music; in 2026, the festival opened with the Boomerang Orchestra and the comedy duo Enzo & Sal. It is a deliberately diverse program designed to appeal to both local residents and visitors from outside the province.

A village designed for families

One of the elements that distinguishes Le Finestre sul Sannio is its setup as an open-air village rather than a simple food festival. The event area includes:

• green spaces and play areas dedicated to children, with entertainment;
• a designated parking area for motorhome travelers, who can stay for the entire weekend;
• ample outdoor tasting areas with communal tables;
• cultural moments and storytelling about the history of the participating villages.

Why it's worth the trip

Puglianello is located in that strip of the Valle Telesina where the province of Benevento meets the province of Caserta: an administrative border that has never existed in daily life, as dialects, recipes, and festivals have always traveled from one side to the other. Le Finestre sul Sannio showcases exactly this continuity, which is why it is interesting even for those unfamiliar with the area: within a few hundred meters, you can taste the cuisine of mountain towns like Pietraroja or Cusano Mutri, the hilly wine-growing villages, and the Volturno plain.

For international visitors, it is also an excellent gateway to the Sannio region: an inland area of Campania much less traveled than the coast, made up of small towns, Romanesque cathedrals, thermal baths, archaeological sites, and wine denominations, where festivals remain the primary way communities introduce themselves to the world.