EVENTS

ANNUAL FESTIVAL GUIDE

Basilicata hosts a variety of festivals, events, exhibitions and concerts throughout the year.

Festivals here are vibrant, colourful and exciting and are an important part of the culture here.

JANUARY

Rotondella, Matera: Festa di Sant'Antonio Abate.
This festival celebrates the Saint of Saint Anthony. Also known as the ‘Feast of fire’, the day is celebrated with large bonfires, processions and music.

FEBRUARY

Satriano di Lucania, Potenza: Festa del Romita – Feast of the Hermit.
Held on the Sunday of carnevale this ancient ritual involves two characters – Romita (a hermit) and an ‘Orso’ (bear). The tradition involves the pair going around the village and looking for gifts and donations for the celebrations on Shrove Tuesday.

MARCH

Picciano, Matera: Festa della Madonna di Picciano.
This festival commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary in an oak tree to a peasant looking for his cows.

APRIL

Barile: Via Crucis Parade
On the afternoon of Good Friday, the famous ‘Via Crucis’ costumed parade takes place which celebrates the procession of Christ.

MAY

Accettura: Marriage of the trees festival
The ‘Sagra del Maggio’ or the ‘marriage’ of the trees is an ancient Basilicata festival. An Oak tree is felled, then dragged into the village by oxen, where it is ‘married’ to a Holly tree which is attached to the top. The town’s men then compete to see who can climb the highest. This pagan ritual is carried out to ensure the fertility of the land and a bountiful harvest. Other villages which hold this festival include Castel Saraceno, Garaguso and Oppido Lucano.

Potenza: The Sfilata dei Turchi - The Procession of the Turks.
This festival is a re-enactment of the miracle of San Gerado, who helped to fight of the invasion of the Turks.

JUNE

Castelmezzano, Potenza: Feast of Saint Vitus
Feast day involves carrying a statue of Saint Vitus, plus the town’s patron saint San Antonio around the streets of Castelmezzano. Afterwards there are fireworks and a huge public dinner held outside.

JULY

Matera: Madonna Della Bruna Festival.
The city of Matera honors its patron from dawn on the 2nd July each year in a colourful, exciting festival involving the whole town. This event begins in the morning with the ‘shepherds procession’. At sunset a procession with a cart holding a papier mache throne of the Madonna della Bruna and pulled by eight mules. This culminates in the crowd ‘attacking’ the float in order to get a piece of it which is supposed to bring good luck for the next year.

Brindisi Montagna, Potenza: Live Outdoor Summer Theatre
Situated within the Foresta Della Grancia archaeological park, Parco Storico is the biggest live theatre event in Italy, involving 400 volunteers from the local community who re-enact the history of the southern Italian brigands during the ‘Risorgimento’.

AUGUST

San Severino Lucano, Potenza: Pollino Music Festival.
Live music in the breathtaking surroundings of Italy’s largest National Park
Montescaglio, Matera: Festa di San Rocco. The fourteenth century Saint Rocco is often compared to Saint Francis, also coming from a noble family and renouncing it all to help the poor. This event celebrates his miraculous intervention which saved the residents of Montescaglio from an earthquake. A papier mache float in his honour is pulled by seven horses.