Sagra du Gnumridd (Peasant Culture Festival)

The festival that celebrates the peasant culture of the Murgia

The Sagra du Gnumridd is the most anticipated summer event in Poggiorsini, a tiny municipality in the Province of Bari set among the high, limestone hills of the Murgia, within the Alta Murgia National Park, about 70 kilometers from the Apulian capital and just a stone's throw from the border with Basilicata. The event is part of the broader Peasant Culture Festival, which every year, around the first Sunday of August, brings the memory of the rural Murgia world back to the town square.

The gnumridd, the star of the table

The heart of the festival is the gnumridd (also known as gnummareddo or gnumirello), a traditional roll made with veal liver, heart, lungs, and intestines, wrapped and grilled according to a recipe that belongs to the wise, humble cuisine of the Murgia shepherds and farmers. Local butchers prepare and grill the gnumridd on-site, serving them hot alongside other typical Apulian specialties, local wines, and craft beer. It is a traditional dish that transforms noble scraps into a delicacy with an intense and unmistakable flavor.

Music, traditions, and rural memory

The evening takes place in Piazza Aldo Moro, which comes alive from the evening onwards with live music, dancing, and a festive atmosphere. Alongside the tastings, the Peasant Culture Festival features exhibitions of antique agricultural tools and rural implements, a way to value and pass down the historical farming activities of the area: the Pro Loco sets up exhibitions and moments that recount how people lived and worked on the Murgia. Past editions have featured groups such as Il Pulmino con la musica dentro and the band Barrio & Orlando Johnson.

An authentic village to discover

Attending the Sagra du Gnumridd is also an opportunity to discover Poggiorsini, one of the smallest villages in Puglia, surrounded by landscapes of stone, pastures, and valleys carved by the Roviniero and Basentello streams. The festival, with free admission, is organized by the Pro Loco Poggiorsini A.P.S. and represents one of the community's defining events, alongside the Feast of the Virgin of Sorrows (the village's patron saint, in August) and the autumn Cardoncello Mushroom Festival.