Madonna del Castagno Festival

A festival born from a chestnut tree

The Madonna del Castagno Festival takes place in the San Silvestro area, about a kilometer from the center of Monte Compatri, in the Metropolitan City of Rome, at the heart of the Castelli Romani in the Lazio region. The setting is the San Silvestro Convent, a historic home of the Discalced Carmelites overlooking the Tusculum woods, and the small sanctuary standing beside it.

Tradition tells of a woodcutter who found an image of the Virgin and Child resting against a chestnut trunk. The Carmelite friars first protected it with a simple wooden structure, then, in 1675, with a masonry chapel that enclosed the trunk itself. Since then, the devotion has never ceased: in 1867, when cholera ravaged the Roman countryside, Monte Compatri was spared, and the community attributed this grace to the Madonna del Castagno. From that vow stems the festival that still draws faithful, pilgrims, and families today.

When it takes place

The festival traditionally lasts three or four days, concluding on the first Sunday of September, with activities beginning in the final days of August. Dates are sometimes adjusted by a week depending on the convent's needs: in 2024, it was held from August 29th to September 1st, while in 2025, it was moved to August 29-31 to celebrate the sanctuary's 350th anniversary.

The rhythm of the days

The program seamlessly blends liturgical moments with popular festivities. The religious component includes the preparatory triduum, the Liturgy of the Hours with Vespers and the Holy Rosary at the sanctuary, daily Holy Masses, the traditional penitential pilgrimage starting from the Monte Compatri cathedral up to the sanctuary, and the solemn Sunday Mass in the convent church, often presided over by the diocesan bishop, featuring a special blessing for local businesses and organizations.

Alongside the liturgy runs the festival itself, the reason why entire families spend the whole day here:

• Traditional games open to all: sack races, tug-of-war, pilaccia, ring toss, and tractor pulling
• Lunches and dinners on the lawn, with indoor food stands and desserts
• Rides and inflatables for children and teenagers
• Live music and evening entertainment organized by the festival committee
• A market featuring publications, paintings, rosaries, and devotional items related to the Madonna del Castagno
• Side tournaments, such as chess and mini-golf, offered in recent editions
• Fireworks display on Sunday evening

Why it's worth the trip

The Madonna del Castagno Festival is not a tourist-driven event: it is a community celebration that preserves the slow pace of the village festivals of the Castelli Romani. You eat sitting on the grass in the shade of chestnut trees, play games just as they did fifty years ago, and enter a tiny sanctuary where the devotion is palpable. For those visiting the Castelli Romani at the end of summer, it is an opportunity to see an authentic side of the territory, far from the beaten paths of Frascati and Castel Gandolfo.

Monte Compatri and the Castelli Romani

The Municipality of Monte Compatri stands on a spur of the Alban Hills, within the Castelli Romani Regional Park, just over twenty-five kilometers from Rome. The village is known for the white wine that bears its name, the panoramic view that stretches from the Roman countryside to the sea, and a network of trails crossing chestnut and oak woods. A visit to the festival pairs well with a walk through the historic center and a climb to the Tusculum archaeological site.