Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel

The history of Fardella is a history of devotion and religious traditions well expressed, more in the past than today, in the festivals held for the two patron saints, St Anthony of Padua, on 13 June, and Our Lady of the Rosary, on the first Sunday of October.

The chapel dedicated to Our Lady is located on the Nocella hill, in an area with a strong rural tradition and with a scenic view of the neighbouring lands and the Serrappotamo valley. This is the area where the small church was erected in 1948 thanks to the donations from those who had emigrated to America, in connection with the fair held for Our Lady and mentioned in records already in the 1850s. It was destroyed and the structure we see today, with a single nave and a gable roof, was built only following recent works.

A large fair was held in October for the festival of Our Lady of the Rosary and it attracted a great number of people from surrounding areas, even more than 10,000, who would come on foot, with mules, to sell and buy animals, and enjoy typical food.

The place is worth a visit: right at the foot of the area, one can take in the whole hamlet with the bell tower of the Mother Church towering at the top, the elegant De Salvo and De Donato buildings, and the oldest part of the town. To the left of the village is the small hamlet of Teana, Chiaromonte is on the right and between the two is the Serrapotamo valley, with the villages of Carbone, Calvera and Castronuovo. In the distance, Roccanova, the Senise dam, the largest earthen one in Europe, and Colobraro.