Presepe Vivente di Bettona

"Each August the tiny hilltop borgo of Montone re-enacts the 1473 gift of a thorn from Christ's crown by Count Carlo Fortebracci, with costumed processions, three rioni competing for the Palio della Santa Spina and a solemn public display of the relic."

Donazione della Santa Spina

"For two weeks every August the three terzieri of Città della Pieve compete in archery, medieval tavern cooking and costumed processions rooted in the town's 1250 submission to Perugia, culminating in a silk-arazzo palio painted by a local master."

Palio dei Terzieri

"Every 16 August the hilltop village of Monteleone d'Orvieto dresses in full medieval costume to re-enact episodes from the castle's 14th-century history, culminating in the competitive Palio del Carro."

Corteo Storico e Palio del Carro di Monteleone d'Orvieto

"Villa Pitignano's long-running salt-cod festival showcases baccalà alla perugina and other inland Umbrian fish preparations that recall centuries of trade routes over ten late-summer evenings."

Sagra del Baccalà e dei Prodotti Tipici Umbri

"The small Umbrian commune of Valfabbrica, in the hills above Assisi, hosts its annual Palio as part of the national Giostra d'Italia circuit, pitting local rioni against visiting knights in a ring-joust that draws competitors from across central Italy."

Palio di Valfabbrica - Giostra d'Italia

"Foligno's September Rivincita gives the ten rioni a second chance to contest the painted Palio banner on a figure-of-eight course against the rotating Mars statue, with 800 participants in scrupulously documented seventeenth-century costume filling the streets the night before."

Giostra della Quintana - La Rivincita

"The municipality of Melendugno's vast free summer festival runs over 90 events across the village and its Adriatic hamlets, including regular pizzica lessons and concerts that turn Torre dell'Orso, San Foca, Torre Sant'Andrea and Borgagne into open-air stages."

BluFestival 2026, Melendugno

"One of the smallest Grecìa Salentina villages, Zollino hosts a single intimate evening of pizzica under the stars as the great travelling taranta festival passes through."

Festival Itinerante La Notte della Taranta, Zollino

"Calimera, whose name means 'good morning' in Griko, hosts one evening of the travelling pizzica festival in a village that still speaks the ancient Greek-derived dialect the taranta tradition grew from."

Festival Itinerante La Notte della Taranta, Calimera

"Carpignano Salentino, home to a celebrated Byzantine rock-art crypt, fills its piazza for one night with tamburello, pizzica dancing, and the folk orchestra of the travelling taranta festival."

Festival Itinerante La Notte della Taranta, Carpignano Salentino

"Sternatia is one of the last Griko-speaking villages in Europe, making its night on the taranta itinerary a rare encounter between living minority language and the living musical tradition it helped shape."

Festival Itinerante La Notte della Taranta, Sternatia

"Martignano, one of the smallest communes in the Grecìa Salentina with under 1,700 residents, transforms its ancient piazza into a pizzica stage for a single unforgettable night of the itinerant taranta festival."

Festival Itinerante La Notte della Taranta, Martignano