San Matteo Fair

The patronal feast of Poggiofiorito

The San Matteo Fair is the patronal feast of the municipality of Poggiofiorito, a small village of about nine hundred inhabitants perched at an altitude of 299 meters in the province of Chieti, in Abruzzo. Every year, on September 21st, the day dedicated by the liturgical calendar to Saint Matthew the Apostle, the village gathers around its patron saint for a day of celebration that weaves together faith, community, and tradition.

Saint Matthew, patron of the Poggiani

Poggiofiorito's bond with Saint Matthew is ancient and profound. The heart of the village is the parish church of San Matteo, built in the 16th century and recognizable by its neoclassical facade with canary-yellow plaster and a single-nave layout topped by a dome. It is from here that, on the day of the feast, the solemn procession begins, winding through the streets of the historic center, accompanied by the local band and the participation of the entire community. The celebration of mass and the religious pageant remain the devotional core of the day.

Between fair and tradition

The sacred dimension is complemented by the more convivial atmosphere of the village fair: the streets and squares come alive with stalls and vendors, in an atmosphere reminiscent of ancient Abruzzese agricultural fairs. The festival is also an opportunity to taste typical local products: the essential arrosticini, sausages, capicollo, and pecorino cheese, expressions of a simple and genuine peasant cuisine rooted in the village's agricultural vocation.

A village with ancient roots

Poggiofiorito was founded in 1901 from the merger of the ancient settlements of Villarielli and Villa di Poggio, but its history dates back to the Roman era, when the area served as a passage between Guardiagrele and the port of Ortona. The town, with its clustered houses and narrow alleys preceded by a large public park, retains the intimate appearance of the small villages of the Chieti hinterland. The San Matteo Fair represents, for this community, the strongest identity-defining moment of the year.

A late summer appointment

Held at the end of September, the festival symbolically marks the close of the summer season and the return to the village's ordinary life. For those visiting the Abruzzo hinterland, it is an opportunity to discover an authentic village far from mass tourism circuits, nestled in the hills of the province of Chieti, just a short distance from the Adriatic coast.