Public celebrations and festivals are an essential part of traditional life in Puglia. As important today as in the past, they are a way for the community and families to come together and to strengthen the social fabric. While some traditional festivals have a clear religious significance, such as Carnival in Putignano and the Holy Week Processions in Taranto and Gallipoli, others are simply an excuse for getting together and having a good time, such as the many food festivals or sagre particularly popular during the summer months. These occasions present a unique opportunity to see and experience Puglia at its most candid. The year is full of special events and celebrations. We've listed just a few.
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Traditional Music (Pizzica) and Concerts During balmy summer nights it's easy to stumble upon outdoor concerts where the frantic sounds of tambourines thrash out the traditional, local rhythms of the pizzica. Often sung in local dialects, particularly Griko, a close relative of ancient Greek, the music and oral traditions are an essential part of local culture. The best known of the traditional music festivals is the Notte della Taranta staged in August each year, but throughout the year it's possible to catch both indoor and outdoor concerts by acclaimed local groups and musicians. |
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Christmas Time and the Befana in Southern Puglia (December-January) Christmas time in the South of Italy, just as at other important celebrations during the year, lacks nothing in the way of tradition and ritual. In every home, church, school, town and city there are special observances particular to this time of the year. Some of the most unusual and spectacular public events at Christmas time are celebrated at Tricase, Casarano, Crispiano and Grottaglie. |
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Festa of Sant'Antonio Abate and the Focara at Novoli (January) The event celebrates the patron saint of the town of Novoli, Sant'Antonio Abate (Saint Anthony the Abbot). The highlight of the series of traditional church services, processions other traditions is lighting of an enormous bonfire upon which an effigy of the saint is burned. |
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Carnival at Putignano (February) The Carnival Parade at Putignano is said to be the oldest in Italy, predating even the famous event in Venice. The celebration is marked by fanfare and a cavalcade through the city's streets on several significant days during the carnival period. The period ends with the Funeral of Carnival and the Campana dei Maccheroni or pasta bell which signals the end of Carnival and the beginning of the period of Lent. |
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Holy Week and Good Friday Procession in Gallipoli (April) Each year during the Holy Week of Easter, the townsfolk of Gallipoli observe one of the most intensely moving and evocative of their traditional festivals, the Procession of the Mysteries and Mary’s Desolation. The series of processions start on the eve of Good Friday and continue well after dawn on the morning of Easter Saturday. |
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The Cavalcata of Sant'oronzo, Ostuni (August) Patron saint of many towns and cities in southern Apulia, Sant'Oronzo is remembered by the citizens of Ostuni in a particularly unique procession. On the town's Patron Saint's Day, the procession of the silver statue of Saint Oronzo is accompaied by 30 horses, and finely dressed riders, from the ancient cathedral, weaving its way through the tiny laneways of the old and new parts of town. |
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Puglia Night Parade, December 2008 |