Carnevale di Montemarano

The Montemarano Carnival is an event that takes place every year in the Irpinian town, during the week of Shrove Tuesday.

It's a centuries-old tradition, which origin cannot be dated with certainty. There is information about it in the documents from the years 1793-1794 in the parish archive of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta (Our Lady of the Assumption). During this event, which manages to involve the entire community every year, adults and children, several celebrating processions of masks parade along the streets to the rhythm of Tarantella Montemaranese, whose melody, according to various sources, was imported during the domination of the Bulgarians and then reworked by the local community.

Today, the Tarantella is played live with the tambourine, accordion, clarinet and shawm behind the parade of dancers. The “ Caporabballo”, the head of the ball, guides the different groups of the Montemarano Carnival. He is easily recognizable among other masks because he wears a typical white dress made of lace and embroidery, with a red sash around his waist, a red cape, a white cone-shaped hat with the end adorned with white and red bows, and always carries a stick with him.

That of Montemarano is a carnival that attracts thousands of tourists, very engaging both for the atmosphere of joy that overwhelms the whole town, and for the sound of the Tarantella, whose rhythm is increasingly pressing, note after note.