What is Accettura known for?

Annual marriage of a Turkey oak and a holly tree at Pentecost, ancestral arboreal rite cited by UNESCO among the great Mediterranean festivals. Regional park surrounding the village, source of the Maggio holly, with the Lucanian Dolomites at its western edge. Patron saint attested in Accettura from 1725, whose feast is fused with the older pagan tree-marriage rite at Pentecost.

Accettura is a comune in the province of Matera, Basilicata region of Italy, about 151 kilometers from Salerno.

Basilicata · Matera

Accettura

A 770-meter village in the Gallipoli Cognato park where, each Pentecost, a Turkey oak is married to a holly tree.

770m

Elevation

151 km / 94 mi

Nearest hub (Salerno)

1,622

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi Autentici

Why come

Accettura sits at 770 meters between the Lucanian Dolomites and the Matera hills, inside the Parco Regionale Gallipoli Cognato e Piccole Dolomiti Lucane. The village's calendar revolves around one event: the Maggio di Accettura, the marriage of two trees, celebrated each year from the octave of Easter to Pentecost. A Turkey oak called u' Masc', felled in the Bosco di Montepiano on Ascension Day, is the groom; a holly called u' Cima, cut in the Gallipoli-Cognato forest the following Sunday, is the bride. The trunks are dragged through the village by yoked oxen, joined, and raised into a single thirty-five-meter pole in the main piazza. UNESCO has cited the rite among the most significant Mediterranean festivals; ethnographers trace it to Lombard arboreal cults overlaid on the cult of San Giuliano, the patron saint who was attested in Accettura from 1725. The rest of the year the village is small and quiet, a Borgo Autentico inside a regional park that also covers Pietrapertosa and Castelmezzano next door.

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Gallery

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Known for

Bosco di Montepiano
Turkey oak forest above the village where the Maggio oak is chosen on the first Sunday after Easter and felled on Ascension Day.
Parco Regionale Gallipoli Cognato
Regional park covering Accettura, Pietrapertosa, Castelmezzano and the Lucanian Dolomites, with the Cima holly forest at its core.
Chiesa di San Nicola di Bari
Mother church in the centro storico, the religious anchor of the village outside the Maggio period.
Chiesa di San Giuliano
Church dedicated to the village patron, whose cult arrived in Accettura in 1725 and is fused with the arboreal rite at Pentecost.
Centro storico
Stone-house medieval centre at 770 meters, the gathering point for the Pentecost rite when the joined trees are raised in the piazza.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The Maggio rite covers six weeks from the octave of Easter to Pentecost, with the oak felled on Ascension Day and the trees joined and raised in the piazza at Pentecost weekend. May and June are the visiting peak. April, July and September are quiet, green and walkable, with Gallipoli Cognato trails open and evenings cool at 770 meters. July and August touch thirty-three degrees but the forest cover keeps the village shaded. November through March is closed: family-run rooms shut, the bus service thins, and the holly forest holds snow above 900 meters.