Montevergine Festival - Sette Madonne Award

The festival of the singing mountain

The Montevergine Festival was born in 2025 in Mercogliano, in the province of Avellino, as an attempt to give a contemporary form to one of the oldest devotions in Campania: that of the Madonna of Montevergine, whom pilgrims have called Mamma Schiavona for centuries. It is not just a food festival or a standard patronal feast; it is an event that combines pilgrimage, folk singing, and cultural reflection, with the Benedictine sanctuary dominating the entire Irpinian valley from the heights of the Partenio mountains.

The Sette Madonne Network

The political and symbolic heart of the event is the creation of the Sette Madonne Network, presented in Mercogliano in September 2025. The network unites the municipalities of Campania that guard the Marian sanctuaries linked to the cycle of the « seven sisters » of popular devotion:

• Mercogliano (Madonna of Montevergine)
• Nocera Superiore
• Pagani
• Sant'Anastasia
• Scafati
• Somma Vesuviana
• Villa di Briano

Seven communities between Irpinia, the Agro Nocerino-Sarnese, and the Vesuvius area that share an intangible heritage made of tammurriate, paranze, canti a figliola, and walking pilgrimages, and have chosen to work together to promote this legacy.

The Sette Madonne Award

During the festival, the Sette Madonne Award is presented. Its first edition was dedicated to the memory of Maestro Roberto De Simone, the scholar and musician who explored Campanian folk culture more deeply than anyone else. The award recognizes those who have managed to preserve and reinvent tradition: artists, scholars, groups of battenti, marginal voices, and visionaries. Alongside the main awards, there is also a special prize called « Oltre le apparenze » (Beyond Appearances), dedicated to those who have defended invisible beauty.

Folk music, documentaries, and exhibitions

The program alternates evening concerts, screenings, and in-depth sessions. On the stage of the Funicular Square, the first edition featured groups and soloists from the Campanian folk and neomelodic scene, ranging from tammorre paranze to world music ensembles and historic names of Neapolitan songwriting. There is also space for children's theater, photographic exhibitions on the tammorra, and debates on the rural world, along with a section dedicated to themes of peace and hospitality.

Flavors of Irpinia

Throughout the evenings, Irpinian food stalls remain open, featuring typical products from the Partenio area and the province of Avellino: mountain cheeses, cured meats, fresh pasta, hazelnut desserts, and local wines. It is the natural completion of a festival that stems from the territory and aims to tell its story through food as well.

Mercogliano and the Montevergine Sanctuary

Mercogliano is the gateway to the Montevergine Sanctuary, founded by Saint William of Vercelli in the 12th century and accessible via the historic funicular that climbs from the town to an altitude of 1,270 meters. The village preserves the ancient core of Capocastello and is located within the Partenio Regional Park, a few kilometers from Avellino and less than an hour from Naples. The festival takes place right in the square where the funicular departs, a spot that serves as both a hub for pilgrimages and a natural balcony overlooking the valley.

A ritual that renews itself

The meaning of the event, as emphasized by the organizers, is to transform ritual into shared culture: the mountain « that sings and unites » becomes a place where popular devotion is not limited to liturgical recurrence but becomes a civil celebration, a meeting between communities, and an opportunity for reflection on Campanian identity.