Prosciutto and Village Flavors Festival

A festival at the foot of a ghost village

The Prosciutto and Village Flavors Festival is the gastronomic event that brings San Severino to life every August. Located in the hamlet of Centola, in the province of Salerno, in the heart of the Cilento region and Campania, the event takes place in the new town, in the valley below the ruins, on the square in front of the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in the shadow of the cliff where one of the most evocative abandoned villages in Southern Italy stands.

This is no newcomer: in 2023 the festival celebrated its 30th edition, and in 2025 its 32nd, confirming its status as one of the most deep-rooted and anticipated events of the summer in lower Cilento. It is a community celebration before it is a tourist event: the local residents are the ones who cook, set up the tables, and welcome guests arriving from neighboring towns, from Palinuro, from Marina di Camerota, and from all along the coast.

The star: local prosciutto

The signature dish is the local cured ham (prosciutto crudo), served primarily in the classic sandwich that made the festival famous and which has entered the local vernacular as the prosciutto festival. Around this product revolves a menu that tells the story of the humble cuisine of inland Cilento, made of garden ingredients, bread, legumes, and wild vegetables. During the festival nights, you can taste:

• sandwiches with local cured ham, sliced to order;
• Cilento-style eggplant parmigiana, one of the area's most iconic dishes;
• chicory and potatoes, a perfect example of Cilento peasant cooking;
• local traditional pasta, seasoned according to family recipes;
• local wines, which accompany the entire tasting journey.

The format is the classic village festival style: take a seat at the tables set up in the square, order at the stalls managed by volunteers, and eat outdoors in the evening coolness of the Mingardo valley.

Music and open-air evenings

The three evenings are accompanied by live music and performances, with bands and groups taking turns on the stage set up in the square. The repertoire draws primarily from folk music and the traditions of the South, with evenings continuing late into the night: a backdrop that transforms the festival into a true village celebration, where families, groups of friends, and tourists vacationing on the Cilento coast mingle together.

San Severino di Centola, the village suspended over the Mingardo

What makes this festival different from many others is the setting. The ancient village of San Severino was founded between the 10th and 11th centuries on a rocky spur overlooking the Mingardo gorge, on the slopes of Mount Bulgheria. The settlement, divided along the saddle of the hill between the castle and church area and the residential houses, was progressively abandoned starting in the late 19th century, when the construction of the railway line prompted inhabitants to move to the valley floor. Until 1861, the locality bore the name San Severino di Camerota.

Today, the ruins—houses, arches, portals, and the remains of the castle and church—are one of the most photographed ghost villages in Cilento, protected and promoted by the residents united in the Il Borgo association and accessible on foot from the new town via a pedestrian path. The village itself hosts the traditional living nativity scene in December: two events, the summer festival and the Christmas one, that mark the community's year.

In the Cilento National Park

San Severino is located within the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, just a few kilometers from the beaches of Palinuro and Marina di Camerota. For those spending their holidays on the coast, the festival is the best opportunity to head inland and discover a cuisine that is among the recognized roots of the Mediterranean diet: simple products, short supply chains, and family recipes handed down from generation to generation.

When it takes place

The event is traditionally an August appointment: in recent editions, it has taken place over three evenings, from August 10th to 12th. The exact dates are confirmed every year by the organizers and the summer calendar of the Municipality of Centola, which also includes other hamlet festivals, from the San Nicola Sausage Festival to the Foria Potato Festival.