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Luras · ITALIAN TRADITIONSS’Accabbadora: Memory, Death and the Limits of Evidence
In Sardinian oral accounts, s’accabbadora is a woman said to have accompanied a dying person at the very end of life. Luras has a particularly strong connection with this…
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Sardinia · ITALIAN TRADITIONSSa Meighina de S’Oju: Sardinian Eye Medicine
In several parts of Sardinia, “eye medicine” names folk rites performed in response to what families call s’ogu or malocchio, a harmful gaze. Spoken formulas, water, oil and…
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Sardinia · ITALIAN TRADITIONSSu Coccu: The Sardinian Amulet with an Eye
Su coccu is a small Sardinian pendant often associated with a dark bead held in a metal setting. It is given and worn as a protective sign against an envious or harmful gaze.…
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Sardinia · ITALIAN TRADITIONSBrebus: Words Passed from Voice to Voice
Brebus is a Sardinian term used for formulaic words associated with local healing and protective traditions. Their importance lies as much in who speaks them and when they…
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Mamoiada · ITALIAN TRADITIONSMamuthones and Issohadores of Mamoiada
Mamoiada’s masked procession has two unmistakable roles. Mamuthones carry heavy bells and move in a measured rhythm; Issohadores, in brighter dress, carry ropes and engage…
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Ottana · ITALIAN TRADITIONSBoes, Merdules and Filonzana in Ottana
Ottana’s carnival stages an uneasy relationship between animal and human. The Boes wear bovine masks and bells; the Merdules guide or struggle with them. The Filonzana, a…
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Oristano · ITALIAN TRADITIONSSartiglia: The Star, the Mask and the Blessing
In Oristano, the Sartiglia is a carnival equestrian event organised around the masked figure of su Componidori. The ritual dressing changes the rider’s public role; horses…
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Sedilo · ITALIAN TRADITIONSS’Ardia of Sedilo: Devotion at a Gallop
Sedilo’s Ardia is a fast equestrian celebration associated with San Costantino. Riders circle the sanctuary precinct while crowds gather in a charged meeting of devotion,…
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Sardinia · ITALIAN TRADITIONSDomus de Janas: Tombs and Fairy Houses
Across Sardinia, rock-cut tombs known as domus de janas were made by prehistoric communities between the fifth and third millennia BCE. Some imitate features of houses in the…
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Sardinia · ITALIAN TRADITIONSIs Animeddas: Children and the Memory of the Dead
In parts of Sardinia, children mark the season of the dead by visiting homes and receiving small gifts, nuts or sweets. Names such as is animeddas and su mortu mortu vary…
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Mamoiada · ITALIAN TRADITIONSSant’Antonio’s Fires and Sardinian Winter Masks
Around the feast of Sant’Antonio Abate in January, communities in Sardinia build and light communal fires. In Mamoiada, the season is also associated with the first…
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Paulilatino · ITALIAN TRADITIONSSanta Cristina: A Nuragic Sacred Well
Near Paulilatino stands the monumental well of Santa Cristina, an extraordinary example of nuragic stone architecture. Steps descend to a chamber with water, while the…
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Bitti · ITALIAN TRADITIONSCanto a Tenore: Sardinian Voices in a Circle
Canto a tenore is a Sardinian form of polyphonic singing in which four singers create contrasting vocal parts. Bitti is one of the places closely associated with this musical…
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Naples · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Neapolitan Cornicello: A Little Horn of Protection
In Naples, the red cornicello is a recognisable gift against misfortune and the feared jettatura. Its tapering, curved silhouette appears as jewellery, a key ring and a…
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Naples · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Munaciello: Naples’ Elusive House Spirit
The munaciello is a small hooded presence in Neapolitan stories, named for a likeness to a little monk. He can hide things, unsettle a household or leave unexpected gifts,…
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Naples · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Neapolitan Smorfia: Dreams into Numbers
The smorfia links images, events and dreams to numbers traditionally associated with the lotto. A person tells a dream; a shared repertory turns its characters into playable…
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Naples · ITALIAN TRADITIONSAnime Pezzentelle: Care for Anonymous Dead in Naples
In Naples, the devotional culture of the anime pezzentelle concerns unidentified dead, remembered and cared for at sites such as the Fontanelle cemetery. Accounts describe an…
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Benevento · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Janare of Benevento: Witches and the Walnut Tree
Benevento is closely linked in Italian storytelling with the janare, nocturnal witches, and with a legendary walnut tree where they were said to gather. The stories have…
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Galatina · ITALIAN TRADITIONSTarantism in Salento: Music, Crisis and the Chapel
Historical accounts of Salentine tarantism describe people experiencing distress that their communities associated with a spider’s bite. Music and movement formed a social…
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Novoli · ITALIAN TRADITIONSLa Fòcara of Novoli: A Tower of Winter Fire
In Novoli, Salento, an enormous bonfire is assembled for the feast of Sant’Antonio Abate. Bundles of vine shoots and the labour of building turn agricultural material into a…
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Salento · ITALIAN TRADITIONSAffascino: The Harmful Gaze in Southern Italy
Affascino names a family of beliefs about a gaze that can unsettle someone, encountered in Salento and elsewhere in the south under different words. Blessings, gestures and…
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Cocullo · ITALIAN TRADITIONSCocullo’s Serpari and the Feast of San Domenico
Cocullo’s feast of San Domenico Abate is known for serpents gathered by local serpari and placed around the saint’s statue during the procession. The encounter is striking…
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Accettura · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Maggio of Accettura: Trees and Shared Labour
At Accettura, the Maggio is a celebration in which large trees are selected, transported and joined for a festival connected with San Giuliano. The undertaking makes the…
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Catania · ITALIAN TRADITIONSSant’Agata in Catania: Devotion Beneath Etna
Catania’s feast of Sant’Agata brings devotees, the saint’s relics and long processions into the streets. Stories about the veil of Agata and protection from lava form part of…
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Palermo · ITALIAN TRADITIONSSanta Rosalia: Palermo’s Mountain and Procession
Palermo’s devotion to Santa Rosalia connects an urban procession with Monte Pellegrino and the cave associated with the saint. The annual Festino gives the city a moving…
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Palermo · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Sicilian Gifts of the Dead
In Sicilian family traditions around the commemoration of the dead, children may receive sweets or small gifts associated with departed relatives. Palermo is one place where…
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Triora · ITALIAN TRADITIONSTriora’s Witch Trials: A History of Accusation
In 1587–88, people in Triora were investigated and accused of witchcraft. The local ethnographic museum recounts the trials. This is history about legal proceedings, hunger,…
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Turin · ITALIAN TRADITIONSMagical Turin: A Modern Map of an Old City
Torino is often advertised through a map of light and dark magic: particular squares, statues and streets are said to mark hidden forces. The architecture and monuments are…
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Florence · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Scoppio del Carro: Florence’s Easter Fire
At Easter in Florence, the Scoppio del Carro brings a decorated cart into the city’s religious celebration. A mechanical dove, the colombina, travels from the cathedral to…
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Gubbio · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Ceri of Gubbio: Giants Carried for Sant’Ubaldo
Each May, three tall wooden structures called ceri are carried through Gubbio in honour of Sant’Ubaldo and other saints. The people carrying them, their colour-coded groups…
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Friuli · ITALIAN TRADITIONSPignarûl: Epiphany Fires in Friuli
In Friuli, pignarûl are bonfires lit around Epiphany, often in a village gathering. People watch the flame and smoke while sharing food and conversation. In some local…
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Veneto · ITALIAN TRADITIONSPanevin: Veneto’s Bonfires and the New Year
Around Epiphany, parts of Veneto gather around a bonfire called panevin. The fire brings neighbours together at a point when winter is still dark and the year feels new.…
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Brianza · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Giubiana: A Winter Figure of Fire and Fear
In Brianza and nearby Lombard communities, the Giubiana is a figure represented by an effigy burned in a public winter gathering. Stories about the woman differ from town to…
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Rome · ITALIAN TRADITIONSLemuria: Remembering the Restless Dead in Ancient Rome
Ancient Roman sources describe the Lemuria as days associated with the dead and domestic rites. Ovid’s Fasti offers a literary account involving a householder and restless…
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Rome · ITALIAN TRADITIONSLares Compitales: Guardians of Roman Crossroads
In Roman religion the Lares were linked to places and households; the Lares Compitales had a connection with neighbourhood crossroads, or compita. Shrines and community…
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Matera · ITALIAN TRADITIONSMatera’s Madonna della Bruna: A Cart Made to Disappear
Matera’s feast of the Madonna della Bruna centres on a decorated cart that is carried through the city and broken apart at the end of the celebration. What appears fragile is…
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Campobasso · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Misteri of Campobasso: Living Sacred Images
For Corpus Christi, Campobasso carries the Misteri, structures designed to support tableaux of people who appear suspended around sacred scenes. Metal frames, costumes and…
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Orvieto · ITALIAN TRADITIONSLa Palombella of Orvieto: Pentecost in the Square
Orvieto marks Pentecost with a ceremony known as la Palombella, centred on the image of a dove descending toward the cathedral precinct. The mechanical movement makes an…
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Nola · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Gigli of Nola: Towers on Human Shoulders
Nola’s Gigli festival brings tall processional structures through the city in honour of San Paolino. Teams of bearers carry and move them to music, turning a street into a…
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Viterbo · ITALIAN TRADITIONSThe Macchina di Santa Rosa: Viterbo by Night
Each year in Viterbo, bearers called facchini carry an illuminated tower through the dark city in honour of Santa Rosa. Its height and narrow route demand coordination that…
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