Olive Oil Festival

A festival born around new oil

The Olive Oil Festival is the event that closes the year in Serre, a small town in the province of Salerno overlooking the Piana del Sele and leaning against the slopes of the Alburni Mountains, in Campania. The idea is simple and deeply linked to the agricultural calendar: when the olive milling is finished and the freshly pressed extra virgin olive oil finally reaches the tables, the town opens its historic center to visitors to taste it and share its story.

The event has consolidated rapidly: the second edition dates back to 2019 and was accompanied by the notes of the Alburni Jazz & Blues Festival, while the seventh edition took place from December 27 to 29, 2025. Over the years, the formula has remained recognizable, despite changing its dates between the first days of December, the Immaculate Conception long weekend, and the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

The culinary trail

The heart of the festival is a culinary trail that crosses alleys, open spaces, and small squares of the ancient center. The stands offer local peasant cuisine dishes prepared with locally produced oil: bruschetta, montanare and fried pizzas, zeppoloni with anchovies, fried dough in various versions, artisanal omelets, and typical sweets like zeppole and cannoli. Visitors purchase their tasting ticket and walk around, tasting from stop to stop, without a mandatory order.

Alongside food, extra virgin olive oil is the protagonist in the strict sense: guided tastings, producer stalls, and local mills, with explanations on cultivars and harvesting methods. The territory of Serre preserves centuries-old olive groves that represent one of its most important economic and landscape resources.

Exhibitions, meetings, and shows

The Olive Oil Festival is not limited to the table. The Ducal Palace of Serre usually hosts art exhibitions, nativity scenes, and cultural meetings: in recent editions, conferences on olive growing as a business activity and in-depth studies of local history have been held, such as the one dedicated to the Persano horse breed.

• Roaming folk music: folk groups, tammurriata performers, and street bands moving along the trail
• Street artists and evening shows in the square
• Exhibitions and artistic installations in the historic center
• Workshops for children, with sensory games dedicated to recognizing oils
• Conferences on olive growing, typical products, and local history

Serre and its territory

Those who arrive at the festival find much more than just a food fair. Serre is located at the entrance to the Cilento and Alburni areas, a few kilometers from the Persano WWF Oasis, one of the most important nature reserves in Campania, born along the course of the Sele river. The historic center, with its ancient layout, lends itself well to the widespread trail formula: Christmas lights, narrow alleys, and stone houses provide a natural setting for the stands.

The initiative enjoys the patronage of the Municipality of Serre and the Alburni Mountain Community, and is carried out with the contribution of local associations, which have overseen the organization and the cultural part of the program over the years.

When to go

The last editions were held in the last days of December, with stands opening in the afternoon and continuing until the evening; on Sunday, the stands also open for lunch. It is an event designed for families, groups of friends, and food and wine enthusiasts, with an audience that arrives mainly from the municipalities of the Piana del Sele, the Alburni, and the capital of Salerno.