Simon Rodia and the Emigrant Festival – Serinesi, Irpini and Italians Worldwide

A festival born from the memory of emigration

In the municipality of Serino, along the Sabato valley in the province of Avellino, the hamlet of Rivottoli hosts one of the most iconic events in Irpinia every summer: Simon Rodia and the Emigrant Festival, dedicated to the people of Serino, the Irpinia region, and Italians around the world. This is no ordinary food festival. It is a celebration born from the void left by cardboard suitcases, transforming that absence into a collective narrative: remembering those who left, welcoming those who returned, and looking toward the young people who still leave the inland Campania region today in search of work and personal fulfillment.

The event has its roots in an initiative promoted about twenty years ago by the then-mayor Armando Ingino, who established a lasting bond between Serino and Melrose Park, a town in the Chicago area with a strong presence of families of Serino origin. After a long hiatus, the festival was relaunched by the Serino Felix association, presided over by Enzo Ingino with artistic direction by Laura Rocco, and is held under the patronage of the Municipality of Serino.

Simon Rodia, the Serino native of the Watts Towers

The festival's name is no coincidence. Sabato Rodia, known to everyone as Simon Rodia, was born in Serino in 1879 and emigrated to the United States. In the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, he dedicated over thirty years of his life to building the famous Watts Towers single-handedly: structures up to thirty meters high, made from recycled materials, iron, ceramic shards, and glass. His face appears among the characters on the cover of The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For Serino, Rodia is much more than a famous figure: he is the symbol of the creativity and tenacity of those who started over elsewhere without forgetting where they came from.

The largest cooking pot in Irpinia

The most spectacular moment of the festival is gastronomic. The Avellino Chefs Association, together with the Regional Union of Campania Chefs and chef Luigi Vitiello, stages a giant three-meter-wide pot—the largest in Irpinia—in which a signature first course is prepared using local ingredients: Capricci pasta from a local Serino pasta factory, San Marzano tomatoes, roasted eggplant, Carmasciano cheese foam, and caramelized Montoro copper onions. It is the direct successor to the longest braciola in Italy, the gastronomic record that animated the previous edition and drew curious onlookers and cameras to Rivottoli.

Emigrant Museum, scenography, and crafts

Surrounding the kitchen, the village changes its appearance. The streets of Rivottoli fill with installations and scenography that evoke travel, departures, and returns, while the Emigrant Museum collects objects, documents, and testimonies from local families. There is no shortage of local craft stalls, rural gastronomy, and street food stations, which remain open until late at night.

• Emigrant Museum set up for the occasion with family memories
• Scenography and installations spread throughout the village streets
• Crafts and rural Irpinian gastronomy stalls
• Street food and tastings until late at night
• Live music, DJ sets, and traditional folk dances

The Simon Rodia Emigrant Award

The civil heart of the event is the presentation of the Simon Rodia Emigrant Award, which is awarded each year to a figure capable of carrying the name of Serino and Irpinia into the world. The ceremony is accompanied by the presentation of plaques of merit to other Serino emigrants, often present with their families: an intense moment, held in the church of Sant'Antonio di Padova, which restores the festival's deepest meaning.

How to experience the festival

The Emigrant Festival is an evening event, outdoors and suitable for all ages: families come with children, the elderly reunite with fellow villagers who have returned from the United States or Northern Europe, and young people stay late for the music and street food. Visitors from outside the area can combine their visit with exploring the Serino territory, celebrated for its spring waters and chestnut groves, and the entire province of Avellino, a land of renowned wines such as Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo, and Taurasi. It is one of the best opportunities in Campania to understand what the word emigration truly means in the inland areas.