Patronal Feast of Maria SS. delle Grazie and Saint Nicholas of Bari

A tradition spanning over a century

In Sant'Egidio del Monte Albino, a town in the province of Salerno overlooking the Agro Nocerino-Sarnese plain, the second Sunday of July has always been the most anticipated date of the year. It is the moment when the entire community gathers around Maria SS. delle Grazie and Saint Nicholas of Bari, the town's patron saints, for a festival that reached its 137th edition in 2025. The festivities span several days and involve the entire municipal territory, from the historic center to the hamlets of Orta Loreto and San Lorenzo.

The religious heart: triduum, candlelight procession, and peregrinatio

The devotional part opens with the solemn triduum, marked by masses dedicated in turn to workers, the elderly, families, and the youth: a way to bring the feast, day by day, into every home in the town. The eve is marked by the candlelight procession of the Patron Saint, which departs from the Abbey of Santa Maria Maddalena in Armillis — the town's most important monument, of Benedictine origin and rebuilt in the 16th century — and winds through the streets of the center by candlelight.

The feast day itself is dedicated to the peregrinatio: the statues of the patron saints are brought out in the morning and spend hours traveling through all the streets of Sant'Egidio del Monte Albino, with stops at the parish churches of the hamlets, before returning in a solemn procession late in the evening, when the streets are already lit by artistic illuminations and the crowd accompanies the statues to the churchyard. It is the most moving moment of the entire week, the time when even those who have emigrated return to the town.

Illuminations, concerts, and fireworks

Alongside the liturgical program, the festival committee and the Pro Loco organize a deeply felt secular program, which over the years has given the festival a resonance far beyond the municipal borders:

• Artistic illuminations: the classic white light architectures that transform the historic center and squares, entrusted to specialized local companies.
• Concerts in the square: Piazza Giovanni Battista Ferrajoli and Piazza Cappella host voices of Neapolitan and Italian music every year. In 2025, Nancy Coppola and Gianni Fiorellino took the stage.
• Bands and brass ensembles: musical parades through the streets of the center, a constant feature of the festival since its historic editions.
• Family entertainment: animation and evening shows designed for children.
• Fireworks: the grand finale, with a pyromusical show that closes the festivities late at night.

The 2025 edition, the 137th

In 2025, the festival took place from July 9th to 15th. After the opening rosary and the triduum, the candlelight procession on July 12th preceded the solemn procession on Sunday the 13th, celebrated with the participation of civil, military, and religious authorities. On the secular side, the concert by Nancy Coppola in Piazza Giovanni Battista Ferrajoli and the closing evening on July 14th with the children's show and the concert by Gianni Fiorellino drew thousands of people, before the fireworks. On July 15th, the memorial mass for Abbot Terracciano closed the calendar.

The setting: the gateway to the Amalfi Coast

Sant'Egidio del Monte Albino is located in a unique position in Campania: at the foot of the Lattari Mountains, it is the town from which one climbs to the Valico di Chiunzi pass, with its 15th-century tower, to overlook the Amalfi Coast. This dual identity — agricultural plain of the Agro on one side, mountain and sea on the other — is also felt in the festival, which combines the rural devotion of the countryside with the baroque scenography of the illuminations typical of Southern patronal feasts.

When it takes place

The festival traditionally falls on the second Sunday of July, with festivities extending to the days before and after. The detailed calendar is released every year at the end of June or in the first days of July by the committee and the Pro Loco of Sant'Egidio del Monte Albino.