The ‘Varola’ (Chestnut) Festival is a popular event that has ancient origins.

It takes place in Melfi at the last two weekends in October. On this occasion it is possible to taste the ancient recipes of local cookery.

The ‘marroncino di Melfi’ (Melfi chestnut), candidate to be one of the ‘DOCG’ products in the European Community, is mainly picked up by women who can pick up from 2 to 3 quintals of chestnuts in just one day.

This event takes place in the central ‘Piazza del Duomo’ in Melfi and along all the streets of the town. In this period the town is very lively, also because of the musical bands and of the folk groups that perform on its streets.

This event gathers thousands of tourists who invade Melfi in order to taste and buy all the typical products made with chestnuts, and most of all the ‘caldarroste’ (roasted chestnuts) cooked on the street.