Wild Asparagus Festival

A young festival in the heart of Irpinia

The Wild Asparagus Festival in Calabritto is one of the most vibrant gastronomic events in the Upper Sele Valley, in the province of Avellino, Campania. Created in 2023 by the local Youth Forum, the festival has gained a loyal following in just a few editions, reaching its fourth edition in 2026. The formula is simple and successful: a wild local product, the wild asparagus, celebrated through food, music, and the surrounding landscape.

Wild asparagus, the star of the Irpinian table

Wild asparagus grows spontaneously along the wooded slopes of the Picentini Mountains surrounding Calabritto. Its spring harvest has always been a family ritual, and local cuisine has turned it into a signature ingredient: omelets, soups, sauces, and especially fresh pasta. During the festival, food stalls offer recipes that pair asparagus with other Irpinian products, from mountain cheeses and cured meats to wines from the Campanian hinterland.

Food stalls and show cooking

The heart of the event remains the gastronomic area set up in the village, between Piazza Matteotti and Via Salvador Allende. Alongside the tasting stalls, there are moments for deeper exploration, such as show cooking and conferences dedicated to promoting local products and territorial certifications (IGP and PAT). It is a way to look beyond the plate and highlight the work of producers in the Upper Sele Valley.

Live music, folklore, and evening entertainment

The two evenings of the festival are marked by music. Folk groups, popular music bands, and live concerts take the stage, with Saturday night continuing late into the night with a DJ set. On Sunday, the pace changes: lunch in the square is accompanied by the organetto, a symbolic instrument of the southern Apennine musical tradition, and the day concludes with dance performances and a final concert.

Trekking and nature in the Picentini Mountains

What sets the Wild Asparagus Festival apart from many others is its hiking component. In collaboration with local guides from Calabritto Escursioni, Sunday morning is dedicated to trekking: accessible trails lead to the Bard'natore waterfalls and into the woods of the Picentini Mountains Regional Park. Walking before sitting down to eat is the perfect synthesis of this festival, which links the product to its natural environment.

An event designed for families

• Games, inflatables, and attractions for children on Sunday
• Entertainment and activities for young people organized by local associations
• Aperitifs and social gatherings spread throughout the town center
• Guided excursions suitable even for casual walkers

The Youth Forum, the driving force of the event

The festival is entirely organized by the Calabritto Youth Forum, the municipal youth participation body. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the event: in an inland territory affected by depopulation, the local youth have built an event capable of attracting visitors from all over Irpinia and the Salerno area, bringing vitality back to the village for an entire weekend.

Calabritto, a village to discover

The Municipality of Calabritto has just over two thousand inhabitants and is located at an altitude of about 480 meters, about sixty kilometers from Avellino. Rebuilt after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, it preserves one of the most evocative medieval villages in the area in the Quaglietta hamlet, dominated by the ruins of the castle. The festival is therefore also an opportunity to visit the area, between nature, historical memory, and the peasant cuisine of inland Campania.