Saint Costanzo Feast and Potato Festival

A festival overlooking Capri

Termini is the highest and most panoramic hamlet in the municipality of Massa Lubrense, at the tip of the Sorrento Peninsula in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania. From here, the view drops straight down to the Bay of Ieranto and Punta Campanella, with the island of Capri sitting right in front, across the Bocca Piccola strait. It is in this village of farmers and fishermen that the Saint Costanzo Feast, the patron saint, is celebrated every July, followed by the highly popular Potato Festival: one of the most authentic celebrations in the entire municipality, where religious rites and village conviviality go hand in hand.

Saint Costanzo, the saint shared with Capri

Saint Costanzo, a bishop, is the patron saint of both Capri and Termini: an ancient bond that unites the two shores of a sea arm only a few kilometers wide. On the summit of Mount San Costanzo, at an altitude of 495 meters, stands the chapel dedicated to him, built around 1560 by the Vespoli, Amitrano, and Starace families. Before that, the hill was called Monte Canutario, due to the whiteness of the limestone rock covering its peak; geologists still consider it one of the most important fossil sites in Southern Italy, rich in ammonites. The summit is reached via an ancient stone staircase.

The legend told by Norman Douglas

Tradition, as recounted by the Anglo-Saxon writer Norman Douglas—who chose Nerano as his home—in his book "Siren Land," tells that the inhabitants had preferred a more convenient location, halfway up the hill, to build the chapel. However, the saint wanted it on the summit: and in a single night, according to popular legend, Saint Costanzo completed the construction up there all by himself. Since then, the mountain has borne his name, and the devotion of the Termini people has never wavered.

The July procession

The devotional calendar of Termini is divided into two moments. On May 14th, the day of the liturgical feast, the saint's statue is carried from the parish church up to the chapel on the mountain. In July, however, a solemn procession brings it back to its original home: a deeply felt parade, joined by numerous lay brotherhoods—including, as every year, the congregation of Saint Filippo Neri from Capri, who cross the sea to be there—accompanied by the notes of the brass band and concluded by fireworks. The route winds through the heart of the village: from Piazza Santa Croce along Via delle Tore, Via Campo di Termini, Via Roncato, Via Castagna, Via Capo d'Arco, and Via Villaggio di Casa, before returning to the church. For the occasion, the municipality enforces parking and traffic bans along the route every year.

The Potato Festival

The week of Eucharistic celebrations is followed by the more convivial part, which attracts visitors from all over the peninsula: the Potato Festival, which closes the festivities. The potato, a humble and everyday protagonist of Lubrense peasant cuisine, is reinterpreted here by the committee's volunteers in a series of traditional dishes:

• homemade gnocchi, served with tomato sauce;
• freshly fried potato crocchè;
• other rustic specialties of the local tradition.

Dining takes place outdoors at tables set up in the small squares and along the village streets, with a simple and familiar atmosphere that makes the festival particularly suitable for those traveling with children.

Music in the square

Alongside the food stalls, the festival comes alive with shows and musical entertainment. In recent years, the evening of the festival has hosted Total Music Live, a festival reaching its seventh edition in 2026, organized in collaboration with the parish: an opening DJ set followed by a live concert, with a repertoire ranging from Italian and international hits to classic and contemporary songs performed by young musicians and emerging vocalists.

Around the festival

Those arriving in Termini for the festival will find much more than just a culinary evening. From the village, trails lead down toward Punta Campanella, the extreme tip of the Sorrento Peninsula and the heart of the Marine Protected Area, and toward the Bay of Ieranto, one of the most beautiful coves in the gulf. The climb to Mount San Costanzo, short but steep, rewards visitors with a 360-degree panorama: the Lattari Mountains, Mount Vesuvius, the Gulf of Salerno, and Capri all within sight.

Why visit

The Saint Costanzo Feast and the Potato Festival showcase what Massa Lubrense still has to offer: a centuries-old tradition not reconstructed for tourists, but lived by the inhabitants, where the procession, the band, the fireworks, and the banquet tables are all part of the same collective gesture.