Pizza Festival Vitulatino

The Pizza Festival Vitulatino, a new highlight in the Agro Caleno

The Pizza Festival Vitulatino is a food and wine celebration that has been enlivening Piazza Mercato in the heart of Vitulazio—a town in the Caserta province of Campania—since 2025. The inaugural edition took place from Thursday, September 4th, to Sunday, September 7th, 2025, focusing on the region's iconic dish—pizza—paired with craft beer and local Agro Caleno specialties. The name "vitulatino," derived from the town's own name, perfectly captures the event's spirit: a festival created by the community for the community, born from a collaboration between the Municipal Administration, local entrepreneurs, and the Araterra Eventi association, coordinated by Cristofaro Aurilio.

Five pizzerias, craft beer, and gluten-free stalls

The heart of the festival is the market area set up in the square, where local pizzerias work simultaneously throughout the event. This is no mere showcase; visitors find ovens fired up, producers' stalls ready, and outdoor seating available, creating a welcoming atmosphere for families and groups of friends alike.

• Five local pizzerias preparing fresh pizzas every evening;
• Craft beer from the local Vitulatino brewery, Màgifra;
• Gluten-free stalls to accommodate those with specific dietary requirements;
• Stalls featuring local products from the Agro Caleno, from dairies to beekeepers;
• Exhibition spaces dedicated to visual arts and local artists.

The Best Buffalo Mozzarella Competition

One of the festival's most distinctive features is the competition reserved for buffalo mozzarella dairies, which took place on Saturday, September 6th, in 2025. Vitulazio lies within the production area of the famous Campanian DOP cheese, and the contest pits the best Agro Caleno producers against each other, with a jury evaluating the entries. It is the festival's way of linking pizza to its most precious ingredient, highlighting the short, transparent supply chain of the region.

Music, shows, and evenings in the square

Beyond the culinary offerings, the Pizza Festival Vitulatino features an evening schedule alternating between concerts, performances, and contests. In 2025, the program included a conference on nutrition, health, and environmental sustainability, a visual arts exhibition, a spinning show, a concert by Tony Tammaro, and music and dance evenings with Gigio Rosa and Radio Marte. The event concluded on Sunday with the "Miss Dea Vitula" beauty pageant and a children's fashion show—a popular, crowd-pleasing program designed to keep the square buzzing until late.

Vitulazio, between the Volturno and the Caserta plains

Vitulazio has just over six thousand inhabitants and is located about 19 kilometers from Caserta at an altitude of 57 meters, in the Volturno plain, which has always been one of Campania's most fertile agricultural areas. The town is part of the Agro Caleno, a district named after the ancient city of Cales, now known primarily for its buffalo farms and dairies. Its proximity to Capua and Santa Maria Capua Vetere, with their amphitheaters and archaeological museums, makes it easy to combine a visit to the festival with a day exploring the province's rich historical heritage.

A young festival that already fills the square

According to the organizers, the first edition was a complete sell-out, confirming that there was a real appetite for such an event in Vitulazio at the end of summer. The formula—free entry, local products, and entertainment in the square—is the classic recipe for a Campanian festival, applied to a product that needs no introduction here. Those wishing to attend the next edition should follow the organizers' and the Municipality's social media channels, as dates are typically announced shortly before the summer.