Macerata Campania, Italy: travel guide to the town of Sant'Antuono and the bottari

Macerata Campania is a town in the province of Caserta, in Campania, set in the fertile Terra di Lavoro plain only a few kilometres from Caserta and its famous Royal Palace. Home to around 11,000 people, it is celebrated for a unique living tradition of music and devotion that fills its streets each January.

For travellers searching for Macerata Campania, the Festa di Sant'Antuono, the battuglie di pastellessa or the bottari, it offers one of the most distinctive folk festivals in southern Italy.

The Festa di Sant'Antuono

In honour of Saint Anthony the Abbot, celebrated on 17 January, the town stages the "battuglie di pastellessa," in which groups of bottari, sometimes numbering several hundred, ride decorated carts beating out powerful rhythms on barrels, tubs and scythes. This "music of Sant'Antuono," said to be one of the oldest surviving musical traditions in Europe and rooted in pre-Christian rites to drive away evil, is safeguarded by a UNESCO-accredited association devoted to this intangible heritage. The festival takes its name from pastellessa, a dish of pasta with boiled chestnuts prepared for the occasion.

Around the town

Macerata Campania grew from an ancient district of nearby Capua and keeps a lively traditional centre around its abbey church. Its great advantage for visitors is its position at the doorstep of the Royal Palace of Caserta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the archaeological towns of ancient Capua.

Practical information

Macerata Campania lies just a few kilometres west of Caserta and about 30 kilometres north of Naples, easily reached by road and rail, making it a simple side trip when visiting the Reggia di Caserta.