APULICA / FRESH PASTA, BREAD AND PASTRY

Torrone di Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo

PAT · Fresh pasta, bread and pastry · Campania

Apulica editorial team · Sources checked: 2026-10-11

In brief

Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo, in the province of Avellino, has the old custom of offering its own torrone, named after the village, at Christmas. (Regione Campania — Prodotti tradizionali, Torrone di Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo)
By tradition it was also eaten on pilgrimages to the nearby sanctuary of Montevergine. (Regione Campania — Prodotti tradizionali, Torrone di Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo)
It comes in two versions, the classic one of honey, egg white and toasted hazelnuts or almonds and one with sponge cake, both covered in chocolate glaze. (Regione Campania — Prodotti tradizionali, Torrone di Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo)

History and origin

Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo is a village in the Partenio Park, 725 metres up and eight kilometres from Avellino, and its history is tied to the Sanctuary of Montevergine. The village was founded in January 1178 as the Casale delle Fontanelle; later a hospice was built where pilgrims rested before climbing to the sanctuary, which gave the village its name. The words d'Alpinolo were added after 1861.

The bond with Montevergine is still alive: the Juta, the popular pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Madonna known as Mamma Schiavona, still sets off from Ospedaletto today.

In this village of pilgrims there is an old custom of offering home-made torrone, named after the town, during the Christmas holidays. Sistema Irpinia notes it was already common at the end of the 19th century, and in dialect it is also called cupeto. Tradition has it that the torrone also sustained the faithful on their pilgrimages to the nearby sanctuary.

It is still made according to the old rules, and Ospedaletto torrone is listed among Campania's traditional food products.

Sources: Regione Campania — Prodotti tradizionali, Torrone di Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Santuario di Montevergine · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)

How to recognise it

Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo torrone comes in two versions. The classic one is made with honey, egg white and toasted hazelnuts or almonds; the other is filled with sponge cake.

What they share, and what makes it recognisable, is the coating: in both recipes the torrone is covered in a chocolate glaze. The Campania Region's record also allows other ingredients, such as dried fruit or chestnut paste: variations within the same tradition.

The village's confectionery tradition does not stop at torrone: Sistema Irpinia also mentions chocolate and other sweets made with walnuts, hazelnuts and dried fruit.

Sources: Regione Campania — Prodotti tradizionali, Torrone di Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo

In the kitchen

Ospedaletto torrone is a festive sweet. Its traditional moment is Christmas, when it is customary in the village to offer it, and its history also links it to pilgrimage: tradition says it was eaten on the way to Montevergine.

Alongside torrone, in autumn the Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo table offers castagne del prete, priest's chestnuts, called castagne ro' prevete in dialect and also a traditional product: they owe their name to a friar who, as tradition has it, discovered their particular way of cooking.

The area also produces Fiano di Avellino DOCG and Caciocavallo Silano PDO, which round out the Irpinian table around the Partenio.

Sources: Regione Campania — Prodotti tradizionali, Torrone di Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo

Where to taste it

The home of the torrone is Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo, in the heart of the Partenio Park, a few kilometres from Avellino. The village celebrates its sweet with the Fiera del Torrone, a food event promoting the local product, and in October with the Festa della Castagna del Prete, with theatre and music.

Every August the Juta a Montevergine sets off from Ospedaletto, a re-enactment of the pilgrimage to the sanctuary accompanied by tammurriata music, which for centuries has drawn thousands of the faithful. In the village you can see the Pilgrim's Monument, the Triton Fountain carved by local stonemasons and, on the old path, the Sedia della Madonna.

The Sanctuary of Montevergine, at Mercogliano, stands at 1,200 metres and is the first Marian sanctuary of Campania. Founded at the wish of Saint William of Vercelli, it keeps the image of the Madonna of Montevergine, known as Mamma Schiavona, and welcomes about one and a half million pilgrims a year; from Mercogliano it can also be reached by one of Europe's steepest funiculars, in seven minutes. Combining the sanctuary, a stop in Ospedaletto and a walk in Avellino is the most natural way to get to know the torrone in its own land.

Sources: Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Ospedaletto d'Alpinolo · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Santuario di Montevergine