Presepe Vivente di Giuliana

"An ancient ribbon dance of Norman origin performed in the highest village of the Madonie mountains, the Ballo della Cordella sees costumed dancers weave coloured cords around a maypole in a ceremony last documented in medieval Sicily."

Ballo della Cordella

"The Madonie hilltown of Caltavuturo hosts an August folklore festival bringing international folk dance and music groups together with Sicilian traditions for an outdoor celebration in its historic centre."

Festival del Folklore

"Pollina is one of the last places in Europe where manna is still harvested from ancient ash trees by incision, and its August sagra celebrates this extraordinary and almost-forgotten Sicilian sweetener with tastings and artisan demonstrations."

Sagra della Manna

"In Sicily's only village built partly inside a sandstone cliff, the sagra del tortone celebrates a uniquely local baked cheese pasta cake at the foot of the famous Sperlinga castle, where Norman defectors once held out for a year after the Sicilian Vespers."

Sagra del Tortone

"One of Italy's most beautiful villages, Montalbano Elicona dresses its medieval streets in Aragonese costume each August for a multi-day historical festival centred on the 14th-century royal castle of Frederick II of Aragon."

Feste Aragonesi

"Randazzo, a remarkably intact medieval town built entirely from black Etna lava stone, stages its annual historical festival with costumed processions and period markets through streets that survived every Etna eruption for 700 years."

Festa Medievale

"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