Madonna delle Grazie Civil Festival

A community festival at the foot of the Taburno

In Vitulano, a village in the Province of Benevento, Campania, the Madonna delle Grazie Civil Festival is one of those events that marks the year better than a calendar. It takes place on Via Santa Croce, the road leading up to the parish church, and for a few nights, it transforms a neighborhood into a small open-air stage, with fairy lights strung between houses, chairs brought from home, children running among the stalls, and families returning from neighboring towns or the North just to be there.

The Madonna delle Grazie Sanctuary

The devotion of Vitulano to the Madonna delle Grazie has its heart in a sanctuary that stands on the slopes of Mount Pizzo, in a dominant position over the Castello district, with a view that embraces the entire Benevento valley. Its origins remain uncertain, but the sanctuary and the hermitage next to it date back to the late 16th or early 17th century. According to an ancient custom, the religious anniversary falls on Ascension Day: on the preceding Sunday, the statue of the Virgin is carried in procession from the Santa Croce parish to the small mountain church, where the novena is held.

Rice with milk and the descent to the "Vagno"

The religious part preserves two gestures that the people of Vitulano recognize as their own. The first is the blessing and distribution of rice with milk, the traditional dish consumed on the day of the festival, offered to those present after the morning mass. The second is the descent to the "Vagno", with the blessing of the spring water and an open-air celebration: a simple rite that recalls how this territory, rich in forests and springs, has linked its identity to water and the mountains.

The civil festival evenings

The liturgy is accompanied by the civil program, organized by the Festival Committee, which in recent years has focused on three consecutive evenings on Via Santa Croce. The formula is well-tested and deliberately popular: a stage, a good sound system, bands that know the craft of village festivals, and no admission fee. The common thread is Southern folk music—the music of tammurriate, pizziche, and tarantelle, reinterpreted with modern arrangements; alongside this, there is ballroom dancing, group dances, and great Italian songs that make everyone sing, from grandparents to grandchildren.

The food stall

Throughout the festivities, the food stall set up by the committee remains active, where you can taste local specialties at festival prices. It is the natural meeting point of the evening: you eat standing up or at tables, drink a glass of Sannio wine, and wait for the music to start. In the Benevento area, festival cuisine speaks of homemade pasta, grilled meats, dairy products, and simple desserts, and the table remains one of the most direct ways to understand the town.

The fireworks

The farewell is entrusted to the fireworks display, which closes the last evening and attracts people even from the neighboring towns of the Vitulanese valley. In the Sannio region, fireworks are not just a backdrop: they are the moment when the community recognizes itself, with the whole village looking up together and the sound echoing against the walls of the Camposauro.

Vitulano, the marble village

Those who arrive for the festival can take the opportunity to discover a town that deserves more than a quick stop. Vitulano is famous for its precious marble, quarried for centuries and appreciated for its veins ranging from gray to red to lilac, and it hosts a sculpture symposium that has left works in local stone along the village streets. In the municipal territory, there are also the basilica and the Franciscan convent of the Santissima Annunziata, the abbey of Santa Maria della Grotta, and the Brigands' Cave, at the foot of Mount Pentime. All around lies the Taburno-Camposauro Regional Park, with its trails and springs: a context that makes the Madonna delle Grazie Festival also a good opportunity for a weekend in the authentic Sannio region.