The village of Vitulano, in the province of Benevento, closes the 33rd Sagra della Castagna e del Pecorino Vitulanese on Sunday 1 November 2026. The final day fills the historic centre with food and wine stands, craft markets, music and cultural events, running through lunch and dinner until midnight.
The festival is one of autumn's established fixtures in the Sannio area. Discover Campania dates the tradition to 1992 and links its organisation to Pro Loco Camposauro, the municipality of Vitulano and local associations.
What is on today
According to NTR24's report on the final day, the programme includes:
- Urban trekking starting at 10:00
- Itinerant music through the village streets
- A creative-poetry workshop for children
- A traditional cheese-making demonstration
- Folk performances and street entertainment
- A culinary show
The festival area also hosts exhibitions, a bookshop and the Museo dei Marmi, alongside craft stalls and food and wine stands.
Visitors planning to arrive late in the day should check for any last-minute programme or timetable changes, as no official live update was available beyond the published report.
What to taste
The reported food offer centres on two local products: chestnuts and Vitulano pecorino.
Stands serve roasted chestnuts, Vitulano pecorino, chestnut-based desserts, traditional pasta dishes and wines from Sannio. For a first-time visitor, that combination makes a practical tasting route: start with pecorino and a glass of Sannio wine, follow with a traditional pasta dish, and finish with roasted chestnuts and a chestnut dessert.
No admission, parking or transport details were independently verified for this edition, so visitors should allow extra time and confirm arrangements locally.
Three chestnuts behind the festival
One reader-value addition for the day is knowing what makes Vitulano's chestnuts distinctive. Discover Campania identifies three local varieties: Enzeta, Panarana and Selvaggia.
Enzeta is described as the authentically Vitulano variety, the one most closely tied to the village. Panarana and Selvaggia complete the local trio celebrated in autumn. Tasting or buying chestnuts with these names in mind gives visitors a clearer sense of what is local rather than generic.
More than food: culture and territory
A second reason to linger beyond the stands is the cultural side of the festival. The final-day programme includes exhibitions, the bookshop, the Museo dei Marmi and folk and street performances, making the village itself part of the visit.
That cultural focus connects to a wider theme from this year's edition. Fremondoweb reported that the 33rd festival included a conference on 29 October on tourism, agriculture and development prospects for inland areas, with attention to local products, landscape and cultural heritage.
The message is consistent with what visitors see on the final day: chestnuts and pecorino are presented not only as food, but as part of the agricultural landscape, craft traditions and village life of Vitulano and the Camposauro area.
For anyone in Benevento or the Sannio today, the closing day offers a compact autumn outing: a morning walk with the 10:00 urban trekking departure, an afternoon among markets, exhibitions and music, and an evening of chestnuts, pecorino and Sannio wine before the stands close at midnight.
