Madonnina della Piana Festival

A popular festival in the Piana del Dragone

The Madonnina della Piana Festival is one of the most popular events of the summer in Volturara Irpina, a town of 3,200 inhabitants in the province of Avellino, in the heart of Irpinia and the Campania region. The event takes place near the Bocca del Dragone, on the edge of the vast Piana del Dragone, and combines Marian devotion, music, and local flavors over two days.

Despite the ancient atmosphere felt along the paths of the Piana, the festival is of recent origin: it was born in the early 2000s around the devotional path dedicated to the Madonna della Piana and has grown to become a staple of the Estate Volturarese calendar, the summer program promoted by the Municipality together with the Pro Loco, local associations, and festival committees.

Devotion to the Madonna della Piana

The focal point of the festival is the votive site dedicated to the Madonna della Piana, the destination of a devotional walk that crosses the Volturara countryside. For the locals, the Madonnina is linked to the land and those who work it: the Piana del Dragone, with its over one thousand hectares at nearly 700 meters above sea level, has for centuries been the agricultural space that sustained the town, with its potatoes, legumes, and livestock pastures.

The event is part of a rich local religious calendar, which includes the feast of the patron saint San Nicola - celebrated on December 6th and the first Sunday of August - the festivities of Sant'Antonio di Padova at the end of July, and the departure of the traditional Castellana towards the Sanctuary of Montevergine on August 14th.

The procession along the rural roads

The central moment of the festival is the characteristic procession that winds through the rural roads of Volturara Irpina, among cultivated fields and the paths of the Piana. It is a simple and heartfelt pageant, different from city processions: families join in as it passes, with stops marked by songs and prayers, accompanying the image of the Madonnina to the celebration site at the foot of Monte Costa.

Music and local food tastings

Once the religious part concludes, the evening changes pace: music and tastings of typical products bring the festival area to life until late. Irpinia brings some of its most renowned delicacies to the table, and Volturara Irpina in particular is known for:

• the Volturara potato, grown in the fertile soils of the Piana del Dragone;
• the quarantino bean, a Slow Food Presidium celebrated in September with a dedicated festival;
• the caciocavallo podolico and cheeses from the valley's dairies, also featured in the July Cheese-maker's Festival;
• the iurmano bread and chestnuts from the Terminio woods.

The Bocca del Dragone, a unique natural setting

The location chosen for the festival is a reason to visit in itself. The Bocca del Dragone is a karst sinkhole that opens at the foot of Monte Costa and, under normal conditions, absorbs about 900 liters of water per second: the chasm was formed following the earthquake of December 5, 1456. In the summer months, you can walk along the seventy-meter-long concrete ledge that runs alongside the underground watercourse before it plunges into the rock.

Surrounding it is the Piana del Dragone, a basin of about 1,100 hectares at an altitude of 685 meters, surrounded by five mountains and recognized as a geosites and Site of Community Importance. In winter, rainwater forms the so-called Lago Dragone. The name recalls the legend of a three-headed dragon guarding a treasure, defeated according to tradition by Prince Gesio, but it actually derives from the ancient Samnite term for water.

A long summer in Volturara Irpina

Those who arrive for the Madonnina della Piana find a town in full swing. The Estate Volturarese runs from June to October, featuring the Cheese-maker's Festival, the Sant'Antonio celebrations, the "A ccapo a nni monte" event in the historic center, mountain bike trails, the Quarantino Bean Festival in September, and the Chestnut Festival in autumn. The slopes of Monte Terminio, the highest peak in Campania, also offer hiking, via ferratas, and sport climbing.

Why it is worth attending

The Madonnina della Piana Festival is not a massive event for thousands of spectators: it is a community festival experienced on foot. Those looking for the most authentic Irpinia - that of the fields, the cheeses, and a surprising karst landscape - will find it here without filters.