Maggiaiole Procession (Madonna della Gaggia)

An ancient rite in the heart of Alta Irpinia

The Maggiaiole Procession is one of the most evocative folk traditions in inland Campania. Every year, on the last Saturday of May, the unmarried women of the municipality of Sant'Andrea di Conza, in the province of Avellino, set out on foot toward the ancient site of Conza della Campania to honor the Madonna della Gaggia. These young pilgrims—the 'maggiaiole'—traverse the countryside of the Ofanto Valley in a journey that weaves together Marian faith, folk song, and community identity.

The legend of the pact with the Madonna

According to a legend passed down through generations, the ritual stems from a 'pact' made long ago between the inhabitants of Sant'Andrea and the Madonna della Gaggia. Tradition tells of the 'flight' of the sacred image and the mutual promises that followed: promises that are solemnly renewed every year during the May procession. This is the origin of the special, unbroken bond between these two villages in Alta Irpinia.

The pilgrims of love

The maggiaiole climb to Conza to ask the Virgin for the grace of finding a good suitor, destined to become a husband, as a reward for their domestic virtues. This is a unique trait of this pilgrimage within the landscape of Italian Marian rites: spring, the season of falling in love, becomes the perfect time to entrust one's future to the Madonna. The older girls carry a white handkerchief adorned with a crown of fruit, while the younger ones wear a crown of roses.

How the procession unfolds

• The procession departs from the mother church of Sant'Andrea di Conza, led by the Crucifix.
• The maggiaiole are escorted by their mothers and the village youth, alongside the Mayor and the parish priest.
• The statue of the Madonna of the Rosary accompanies the cortege to the edge of the town, where it waits in a chapel for the girls' return from Conza.
• Along the way, the maggiaiole sing traditional songs recalling the 'story' of the flight and the promises made.
• Before arriving in Conza, the fields are blessed with the Crucifix.
• The central moment is the Mass in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, where the priest and the mayor of Conza symbolically hand over the keys of the city to the people of Sant'Andrea.
• At the end, the ritual concludes with an outdoor picnic, where the girls consume the fruits from their crowns.

Ancient Conza, a cathedral among the ruins

The destination of the pilgrimage is particularly evocative. The ancient cathedral dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption was destroyed by the earthquake of November 23, 1980, which razed the old town of Conza della Campania. Today, the archaeological site of ancient Compsa and the Co-cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta provide a setting suspended between memory, stone, and landscape, overlooking the oasis of Lake Conza.

Sant'Andrea di Conza, the village of the maggiaiole

Sant'Andrea di Conza is a small town of about 1,700 inhabitants, nestled at an altitude of 665 meters in the Ofanto Valley, about sixty kilometers from Avellino. The village preserves the 13th-century Bishop's Palace with its cylindrical tower, the 1826 Metropolitan Seminary with the church of San Michele, the church of San Domenico, and the Clemente-Malanga brick kiln, a testament to the local ancient brick-making art. The maggiaiole, along with the kiln, are the symbolic identity of the village, so much so that they have become part of the narrative used in the territory's recent cultural bids.

When to go

The date is set by tradition for the last Saturday of May. The exact dates and times of the celebrations are announced each year by the parish and the Municipality of Sant'Andrea di Conza in the preceding weeks, in coordination with the Municipality of Conza della Campania, which hosts the procession.