Sagra dell'Iperbole Festival

A comedy festival in the heart of Sannio

The Sagra dell'Iperbole was born in 2025 in Telese Terme, a thermal town in the province of Benevento, Campania. It was built on a simple yet ironic concept: take the classic structure of a village fair—the stalls, the market, the local products, and the evening gatherings under the trees—and fill it with the language of contemporary comedy. Instead of the traditional food product that usually gives a fair its name, this event celebrates the 'hyperbole' (exaggeration), the favorite rhetorical device of storytellers and comedians.

The Parco delle Antiche Terme Jacobelli

The venue is the Parco delle Antiche Terme Jacobelli, located along Via Bagni Vecchi. This vast green space is famous for the sulfurous waters that made Telese Terme one of the most renowned thermal destinations in the Valle Telesina. For three days, the park transforms into a temporary village with stages, food stalls, market booths, and meeting areas scattered among the tree-lined avenues. The format works precisely because it breaks away from the rigidity of a theater: you can watch a show while sitting on the grass, wander over to a concert, and head back for a sandwich without the constraints of assigned seating.

Comedy, music, and live podcasts

The program is built on three pillars. The first is stand-up comedy, featuring monologues from comedians well-known on television and digital platforms alongside emerging talents from the Campania scene. The second is live music, with evening concerts closing out each day. The third is the live-recorded podcast: interviews and conversations that, in the inaugural edition, even brought guests from outside the comedy world onto the stage. In 2025, a typical day began around 6:30 PM with a live podcast, followed by two comedy shows in the evening, and concluded with a late-night concert.

What you'll find at the Sagra

• Stand-up comedy shows featuring Italian and local Campania comedians
• Live concerts to close each day
• Live podcast recordings open to the public
• Street food and local products
• A market set up within the park
• Surprise guests, announced in the days leading up to the event on official channels

From Telese Terme to Milan and back

Following its successful debut in July 2025, Sagra dell'Iperbole expanded beyond regional borders with a stop in Milan, before returning to its home base in 2026 with an extended three-day format. This journey perfectly captures the project's essence: a festival born in a small town in Sannio that managed to tap into the national live comedy circuit without losing its connection to the territory where it began.

Why it's worth the trip

Visitors from outside the region will find a rare experience: Italian stand-up comedy, usually confined to clubs and theaters in big cities, brought outdoors into a thermal park with the slow, convivial pace of a summer fair. The evenings are long, ticket prices remain affordable compared to large music festivals, and the audience is young yet diverse, with families and curious newcomers joining the genre's die-hard fans. For the Municipality of Telese Terme and the entire province of Benevento, the Sagra has quickly become one of the most recognizable summer events, drawing crowds to the Valle Telesina who might otherwise have spent their July evenings elsewhere.