San Martino – Anchovies and Wine

A festival marking the end of the agricultural year

In the Sannio region, November 11th, the day of Saint Martin, has for centuries marked the end of the working year in the fields: rents were paid, agricultural contracts were renewed, schools opened, and the new wine was tasted. In Fragneto l'Abate, a village of just over a thousand inhabitants in the province of Benevento, that tradition has evolved into the San Martino – Anchovies and Wine festival, which brings the flavors and customs of rural life back to the streets of the historic center every November.

Pizza with anchovies, the absolute star

The signature dish of the festival is the San Martino pizza, a rustic flatbread prepared with very few ingredients—flour, water, oil, salted anchovies, and pepper—and slow-baked in the oven. Local tradition says that tenant farmers used to prepare it on November 11th to give to the landowners as a gesture of good luck for the new year. The intense flavor of the anchovies is softened by the new wine of the Sannio, served alongside chestnuts: a simple pairing that has become the village's gastronomic identity. Alongside the pizza, you will often find buccellato, another local sweet-and-savory specialty.

A village that becomes a gourmet trail

For the entire weekend, the alleys and squares of the village turn into a food and wine itinerary: Pro Loco stands, craft stalls, and local wineries pouring the latest vintage. It is not a stage-based festival, but one to be walked: you move from an oven to a small square, tasting, sipping a glass, and listening to the street music that fills the village. There are entertainment areas for children, making it a great day out for families.

Culture, environment, and walking

Over the years, the Pro Loco has added a cultural program to the gastronomic side, giving depth to the event. Recent editions have included workshops for primary school students to learn the secrets of pizza with anchovies, meetings with experts from the Slow Food Tammaro Fortore chapter on pairings between local wines, San Martino pizza, and buccellato, as well as conferences on the protection of the Sannio landscape. The excursions are also very popular: The Path of the Trails, a guided walk of about ten kilometers along ancient tracks around the village, is one of the most appreciated activities for visitors.

Fragneto l'Abate, a village in the Benevento Sannio

The Municipality of Fragneto l'Abate is located at an altitude of about 500 meters, on the hills sloping down towards the Tammaro valley, bordering Campolattaro, Circello, Fragneto Monforte, and Pesco Sannita. We are in the inland Campania, the one not seen on coastal postcards: a territory of olive groves, vineyards, oak forests, and small towns where the Pro Loco remains the true engine of collective life. Those who arrive in November will find an autumnal landscape and a community that tells its story through food, without tourist filters.

Who organizes the event

The event is managed by the Pro Loco of Fragneto l'Abate, with the support of the Municipality and the collaboration of local associations and producers. It is a volunteer-driven event that has grown with each edition to become one of the most recognizable autumn appointments in the Sannio.

When it takes place

The festival is traditionally held on the weekend closest to November 11th. In 2025, the 21st edition took place from November 7th to 9th; in 2024, the event fell in mid-November. The dates for the 2026 edition have not yet been announced by the organizers: it is advisable to follow the Pro Loco and Municipality channels in the weeks leading up to it, as the program is usually released just a few days before the start.