Street Artists Festival (Artisti di Strada in Festa)

An evening of wonder on the eve of Saint Gerard

The Street Artists Festival, also known by its Italian name Artisti di Strada in Festa, is the event that kicks off the celebrations for Saint Gerard Majella, the Redemptorist saint venerated as the protector of mothers and children, celebrated on the first Sunday of September. On the eve of the feast, as the village of Materdomini begins to fill with pilgrims arriving from all over Campania and Southern Italy, the streets around the Sanctuary light up with lights, music, and displays of skill.

Materdomini, the heart of the celebration

The natural stage for the event is Largo Sant'Alfonso, the open space in front of the Sanctuary complex, along with the village streets that lead into it. Materdomini is a hamlet in the Municipality of Caposele, in the province of Avellino, in the upper Irpinia region: a mountainous area bordering Basilicata, also famous for the Sele Springs that feed the Apulian aqueduct. Here, for a few hours, the flow of devotion and the festive spirit meet without contradiction: the procession and prayer on one side, popular celebration and entertainment on the other.

The artists and the languages of the street

The program of past editions has alternated different acts along a roving route, allowing the public to move freely from one station to another. Among the disciplines that have enlivened the streets of the village:

• Roving marching band accompanying the public along the route
• Contact juggling and balancing acts
• Stilt walkers in costume
• Aerial dance suspended above the square
• Fire-eaters and light performances
• Caricaturists sketching passersby live
• Inflatables and street soccer entertainment

There is no auditorium and no entrance fee: you walk, you stop, you applaud. It is the classic formula of street arts, which finds a particularly favorable context in Materdomini thanks to the wide spaces and the crowds already present for the patronal feast.

A festival designed for children

The choice to dedicate the evening to children is no coincidence: Saint Gerard Majella is invoked as the protector of mothers and the unborn, and the sanctuary of Materdomini has always been a destination for families coming to fulfill a vow or ask for a grace. The festival translates this devotion into a contemporary and accessible language, offering children an evening of free entertainment right on the eve of the most intense moment of the year for the community.

Organizers

The event is promoted and supported by the Municipality of Caposele together with the Pro Loco Caposele and the Visit Caposele association, which handles the tourism promotion of the area. The festival is part of the Estate Caposelese (Caposele Summer) program, which runs from mid-July to the first days of September, bringing together concerts, food festivals, sports competitions, exhibitions, and religious events.

Caposele in the Irpinian summer

Those arriving for the festival find a town in full swing: in the preceding weeks, the Estate Caposelese has already offered the Sagra delle Matasse, the historic Corsa dei Tre Campanili, jazz evenings, and concerts in the square, in addition to the Ferragosto celebrations in Materdomini. The street artists' evening thus serves as a scenic opening to the final chapter of the program, the one dedicated to Saint Gerard, which culminates on the first Sunday of September with the feast and the traditional fair. For the Campania Region and inland Irpinia, it is one of the events that best captures the bond between the sanctuary, the community, and popular entertainment.