Wild Boar Festival

The Wild Boar Festival of Sassinoro

In the heart of the Alto Tammaro, just over thirty kilometers from Benevento, the small Municipality of Sassinoro — with just over six hundred inhabitants at an altitude of 545 meters — dedicates one of its most popular summer evenings to an ingredient that tells the story of its woods: wild boar. The Wild Boar Festival, organized by the Pro Loco Sassinoro, is now a permanent fixture on the August calendar, drawing visitors from neighboring Sannio towns and the nearby Molise region.

Sassinoro-style wild boar stew

The festival's signature dish is the Sassinoro-style wild boar stew, a slow-cooked local rustic preparation that has become a true symbol of the village. The recipe gained recognition beyond municipal borders in the autumn of 2024, when a delegation from the Sassinoro Pro Loco was invited to cook it at the national Pro Loco gathering in Sardinia: an honor earned following the success of the Gastronomic Route and the Wild Boar Festival that same year.

Surrounding the main dish, the evening follows the proven formula of local Sannio festivals: food stalls managed by volunteers, outdoor tables in the town center, folk music, and a festive atmosphere that involves the entire community. It is not an event built for mass tourism, but a community celebration where the visitor is welcomed as a guest.

A village between water and woods

Sassinoro is known in the Sannio region as the village of water: the Tammaro River brushes the southern edge of the town for about seven kilometers and for centuries powered numerous mills, now abandoned but still visible in the landscape. The municipal territory, which rises from 392 to over 1,100 meters above sea level, is a mosaic of woods, pastures, and scattered districts — Santa Lucia al Monte, Vignadonica, Querceto, Sant'Antonio Abate, and many others — which explains why game has a place of honor in the local cuisine.

The sanctuary of Santa Lucia, linked to a 17th-century legend of shepherds and a cave apparition, and the patronal feast of Saint Michael the Archangel on May 8th complete the town's devotional calendar; summer remains the season of conviviality and dining.

Part of the "Summer in Sassinoro" program

The festival is not an isolated event: it is part of the Summer in Sassinoro program, a series of cultural, musical, and gastronomic evenings that the Benevento Provincial Tourism Board highlights every year between August and September. Those arriving in the village for the festival will often find other events on nearby evenings, from concerts in the square to food and wine walks in the historic center.

Recent editions

• 2024 — 7th edition, Saturday, August 17th, documented by the Municipality of Sassinoro.
• 2025 — edition scheduled for August 18th by the EPT Benevento events portal, as part of "Summer in Sassinoro".
• 2026 — date not yet announced at the time of publication: the event traditionally takes place in mid-August.

Why it's worth the trip

It is a small, authentic festival without tourist filters: what you eat is cooked by Pro Loco volunteers, prices remain affordable, and the evening takes place among the village houses, with the mountain breeze that is a luxury in August. For those visiting the province of Benevento and inland Campania, Sassinoro is also a good starting point for exploring the Alto Tammaro, the Matese massif, and nearby villages like Morcone and Santa Croce del Sannio.