Calabria

Events in Calabria are intertwined with street food, folk dances and festivals of fire and saints where food is inspiration and allegory. During the summer, the Peperoncino Jazz Festival brings Italian and international artists to small villages and unusual locations. The Primavera dei Teatri (Spring of Theatres) event, on the other hand, stages the new languages of the contemporary scene by bringing them to the symbolic places of the city of Castrovillari. This centre is also famous for its carnival, where participants compete to create the most spectacular performance in a allegorical parade of masks and colours. In Italo-Albanian Calabria, on the occasion of Easter rites, the Vallje take place to commemorate the deeds of the epic hero Giorgio Castriota Skanderbeg: ethno-choreographed dances, in traditional costume, wind their way through the streets of the village with songs of love and nostalgia for the motherland. In Civita, in the province of Cosenza, one of the most popular and spectacular Vallje takes place every Tuesday after Easter. In the most archaic Calabria, Easter re-enacts the passion of Christ with real theatrical performances along the streets of the town, such as that of the Vattienti (the flagellants). This is a religious ceremony dating back to 1618 in which the flagellants beat themselves until they bleed in a sort of catharsis and atonement for sins that recalls the passion of Christ. The Giants of Monte Poro, in Vibo Valentia, amuse and frighten young and old alike. In Roccella Jonica, in the beautiful setting of the Costa dei Gelsomini, one of the historic jazz festivals founded in 1981 brings together the beauty of the place, recognised in history as an important feud and defensive stronghold, and the greatest jazz musicians on the international scene. For wave lovers, a stop at Gizzeria, on the Tyrrhenian coast in the Lametino area, the kitesurfing capital that hosts the annual kitesurfing world championship, is recommended. To experience new artistic languages immersed in local history, on the other hand, it is possible to attend the Armonie Festival, inside the Archaeological Park of Roccelletta di Borgia, a place immersed in the myth from which Ulysses departed towards Ithaca, today a triumph of music, art and theatre in a complex and complete idea of beauty.