Patron saint festival In 50 days
Saint Barbara, patron of the Forcella Shrine
📅 Every year, on 4 December
Pradalunga celebrates Saint Barbara on 4 December.
At Pradalunga they quarried whetstones, the stones with which knives and scissors are sharpened, and the trade was so lively that Pliny the Elder already speaks of it: he tells of the great bustle of traffic around Monte Misma. The name probably comes from that too: the most accepted explanation derives it from preda longa, the long stone, and not from the long meadows between the river and the mountain.
On the road that led from the village to the quarries, at six hundred and thirty metres on the Forcella hill, the quarrymen built a sanctuary, opened on the fifth of August 1640: it was their thanksgiving to the Madonna after the plague. It is no accident that among the village's patron saints there is also Saint Barbara, the protector of miners. Pradalunga, for that matter, gained its independence from Nembro only in 1580: before then it was a quarter of the neighbouring village.
The Pradalunga guide
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Pradalunga 1
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Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Pradalunga
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Pradalunga, but an easy day trip away.
Royal Palace of Caserta 📍 Caserta · 21 km The Bourbon palace: 1,200 rooms, 1,742 windows and three kilometres of fountains uphill. Ponte Leproso 📍 Benevento · 17 km Roman bridge over the Sabato where the Via Appia entered Benevento, rebuilt in 1712; UNESCO site. Basilica del Corpus Domini 📍 Maddaloni · 17 km Maddaloni's main church, with a high altar designed by Luigi Vanvitelli and panels by Pompeo Landolfo. basilica della Madonna delle Grazie 📍 Benevento · 17 km Neoclassical Greek-cross basilica to the patron Madonna of Benevento, with a Franciscan convent. teatro romano di Benevento 📍 Benevento · 17 km Roman theatre inaugurated under Hadrian between 125 and 128, with a 98-metre cavea; still used for shows. duomo di Benevento 📍 Benevento · 17 km Cathedral rebuilt after its destruction in 1943, keeping the Romanesque façade, bell tower and ancient crypt.