Ragù is not just a dish. It is a family liturgy, a collective ritual, a smell that wakes you up on Sunday morning. It is the grandmother who starts cooking on Saturday afternoon, it is “taste if it’s missing salt,” it is “it’s not ready, it needs to simmer.” It is the family around the table, it is sharing, memory, popular culture, time dedicated to those you love.
From this sentiment arises the RAGÙ DAY, an event planned and funded by the Campania Region through Scabec, conceived together with Casa Surace to celebrate and pass on the tradition of ragù as a symbol of identity, affection, and belonging. The Regional Day of Neapolitan Ragù, officially recognized thanks to a regional law promoted by the Campania Regional Council, thus becomes a real popular festival dedicated to conviviality, culture, and memory, with a special thought to Nonna Rosetta, the grandmother of Casa Surace who passed away four years ago, from whose inspiration this idea was born.
The event at a glance
On Sunday, November 9, in Naples, at La Santissima – Ex Military Hospital, from 11:45 am to 5:00 pm, the traditional Sunday lunch will become a collective event open to all. Admission will be free, and visitors will be offered tastings of Campanian products. It will also be possible to purchase a ragù-themed menu with traditional dishes: gnocchi al ragù, meatballs, eggplant parmigiana, fried frogs, and cavati. The ribbon-cutting will see the participation of numerous local authorities, associations, and territorial realities.
The beating heart of the day will naturally be the ragù, with the atmosphere of the southern Sunday lunch: convivial, ironic, affectionate. The Food Truck of Trattoria Nennella will bring the energy of Neapolitan popular cuisine, while on stage, the protagonists of Casa Surace, Antonella Morea, Riccardo Betteghella, Daniele Pugliese, Alessandro Freschi, Irene Grasso, and Serena Caputo will alternate in a show between comedy, popular music, and reflection. Special guests will be journalist and anthropologist Mario Niola and Neapolitan singer-songwriter Gabriele Esposito, “the cousin who occasionally picks up the guitar.”
The undisputed protagonists will also be the grandmothers, with their “Grandmothers’ Stand” where they will offer typical local products, from fried frogs to sweet and savory cavati. There will be no shortage of the “Evil Eye Stand,” to free oneself from negative energies, and the “Tarot Stand,” to discover what the future holds for your Sunday lunches. Two interactive workshops will allow visitors to learn how to prepare homemade pasta and tomato sauce, the sacred base of ragù. During the event, the Nonna/Nonno of the Year Award will be presented, dedicated to a symbolic figure of tradition and family love.
The scenic setup, curated by Federica Capua, will transform the space into an immersive journey through colors, scents, and symbols of the Neapolitan Sunday.
Repetitions
Ragù Day will also be a moment of cultural exchange, with interventions from realities linked to the tradition and gastronomic culture of the South. During the day, Radio Punto Zero will broadcast live from its van with interviews and connections, while LaMiaCampania will accompany the event’s communication and be present throughout the festival.
The event will be repeated on Sunday, December 28, in Sala Consilina, in the province of Salerno, where Nonna Rosetta lived and in the heart of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano, and Alburni National Park area: an opportunity to showcase the realities of the region’s interior areas and their ancient traditions.
Ragù Day is an invitation to rediscover the value of shared time, of cooking as a universal language, and of the South as a place of stories, smiles, and humanity. An invitation to celebrate together the most important moment of the South: Sunday in the family. Because ragù is not a dish. It is a feeling.
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Dining and Cooking