Patronal Feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle (Pellare)

Saint Bartholomew, the patron saint of Pellare

In Pellare, a hamlet of the municipality of Moio della Civitella in the province of Salerno, the patronal feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle is much more than just a date on the summer calendar: it is the moment when the entire community gathers around the figure that guards its identity. According to local tradition, the first settlement of the village developed right around a chapel dedicated to the Saint, and the bond has remained unbroken ever since. It is one of the most followed religious celebrations in inland Cilento, capable of drawing faithful and visitors from neighboring towns and bringing home, for a few days, those who have moved away from Pellare.

The procession of August 25th

The heart of the festivities is the solemn procession on August 25th. After the liturgy, the pageant sets off from the village church and slowly travels through the streets: local chronicles describe it as a long and highly attended procession, joined by the statues of the Saints kept in the Church of Saint Francis. The feature that most strikes first-time visitors is the home visits: house by house, family by family, the visit and blessing of Saint Bartholomew are brought to every dwelling in a ritual that can last for hours, transforming the entire village into a single sacred space.

• Solemn masses in the churches of Pellare, with moments of prayer and popular devotion
• Procession through the village streets, with the statues of the Saints and the blessing of every home
• Brass band accompanying the pageant and performing in the village squares
• Fireworks, the traditional scenic conclusion to the festivities
• Concerts and music as part of the civic celebration, along with stalls and convivial moments

Three days of celebration between the sacred and the profane

The liturgy sets the feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle on August 24th, but in Pellare, the festivities traditionally span August 24th, 25th, and 26th, with the 25th being the highlight. Alongside the religious celebrations, a rich civic program curated by the Saint Bartholomew Feast Committee has developed over decades: in 2025, the 39th edition of the festivities was celebrated, a sign of organizational continuity rooted in the 1980s. The result is the classic formula of Southern Italian patronal feasts, where the solemnity of the procession coexists with illuminations, the brass band in the square, and the musical evening that closes the event.

The memory of the 1857 earthquake

The devotion of the people of Pellare to their patron was strengthened after the violent earthquake that struck Basilicata and the neighboring areas of Cilento in 1857. Since then, the community has also remembered that event on December 16th with a commemorative celebration, the second appointment of the year linked to Saint Bartholomew. It is a detail that helps explain why the August feast is not perceived as a simple folkloric event, but as a renewed pact between the village and its protector.

Pellare and Moio della Civitella

Those arriving for the feast will find an area of great interest in the heart of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park. On the summit of the hill above lies the Civitella Archaeological Park, whose origins date back to the 6th century BC and which is linked to the Greek civilization of Elea; at an altitude of about 818 meters stands the Annunziata Chapel, likely built between the 14th and 15th centuries and restored in the 20th century. In the village, you can visit the Museum of Peasant Civilization, with its sections dedicated to textiles, olive oil, grain, wine, and religious history, as well as the mid-18th-century water mill, declared to be of particularly important interest by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage.

A summer full of events

The feast of Saint Bartholomew is not the only highlight of the local summer: Moio della Civitella also hosts Mojoca, one of the most well-known international street artist festivals in Southern Italy, while on July 26th, the municipal capital celebrates its own patron saint, Saint Veneranda. For those visiting Cilento in August, Pellare represents an opportunity to discover an authentic, non-touristy, and deeply rooted festival, just a short distance from the beaches of the Cilento coast and the inland villages.