The Judaica

In the town of Laino Borgo, during the Easter holidays, an event with a historical and religious profile has been repeated for many years: La Giudaica - Trial of Jesus.

It is a representation of the Passion of Christ, extracted from Morone's 1600 manuscript, and takes place on Good Friday in the village's alleys and squares.

In the village, during the rehearsal period, many people are addressed by the names of the Jewish characters and it is also common to see people with unkempt beards and long hair.

The event in question is not just an event but a moment of local aggregation. A hundred or so Lainesi, including actors and extras, devote themselves to this performance with overwhelming enthusiasm. Children, teenagers, adults and the elderly are all involved.

Roles are assigned according to a sort of scale of values, but everyone participates and can participate in the course of their lives by playing various parts. Everything is surrounded by hand-sewn clothes mended by local seamstresses and leather armour created by a Cosenza craftsman.

The event is unique and rare because it would not be the same if it were not performed there and without the Lainese. It is about their history, their tradition. The scenes are touching, one finds oneself experiencing a theatrical performance by people who, despite not being real actors, play the parts with a unique veracity of soul.

Perciavutti

Percia ('Buca') Vutti ('botte') evokes the ancient ritual of tapping the barrels that took place in the so-called 'Vuttari' (places where the barrels with wine were kept) between friends and relatives who reciprocally exchanged the pleasure of tasting the goodness of the new wine. The 'Comunalia' Association, the Municipal Administration and the Pollino National Park have taken up and enriched this tradition and made it a major event that now crosses regional borders. In the four neighbourhoods, into which the town is symbolically divided, 'Vuttari' are set up, where many traditional Mormano dishes are offered to all visitors. "Perciavutti' is now in its 17th edition and is undoubtedly the most important and characteristic winter event in southern Italy.

Springtime of Theatres

A festival on the new languages of the contemporary scene, Primavera dei Teatri testifies to the will of a small and charming centre in one of the most disadvantaged regions of Italy to become a privileged place of national cultural debate. And it confirms the will to challenge its own condition of cultural backwardness, contributing to the process of renewal of the language of the stage in Italy. The festival has become a reference point in the South for contemporary dramaturgy and new creativity, a workshop of encounters and comparisons between artists of different backgrounds and generations. Over the years, Primavera dei Teatri has contributed to the affirmation of many Italian artists of the latest generation, some of whom were later consecrated by prestigious awards. A unique event in the south of Italy, the festival reflects on contemporary society, records ideas and aesthetic questions, and focuses on young people, even taking big risks. Directed and organised by Scena Verticale, the festival reaches its 20th edition in May 2019.

Sounds - Ethno-Jazz Festival

SUONI' festival Etno jazz' is an event dedicated entirely to good music, conceived also with a view to contributing to the enhancement and redevelopment of this city, with the aim of spreading knowledge and culture also in Southern Italy. "SUONI" is an ambitious but also realistic project, born from the mixture of popular music - world musice jazzborder music that ranges from one genre to another without ever invading it, respecting its origins while contaminating them with different cultures.

The event includes three shows-concerts a day, and a rich programme of collateral events: from the so-called 'listening guides', real music lessons held by qualified teachers and/or the artists participating in the kermesse themselves, to learning courses for the construction and performance of musical instruments, to spaces dedicated to the tasting of Pollino DOC wines.

Performance period: last week of Julyduration of the event: four days.

Vallje

The Easter rites conclude on Tuesday with celebrations linked to the re-enactment of the heroic deeds of George Castriota Skanderbeg, the Vallje,where the sense of ethnicity becomes more and more alive, here it is as if one breathes a different air, as if the wind carries scents of distant festivals, not only in space, but also in time, traditions come alive again. The costumes in ancient colours and precious fabrics, worn by young brides and beautiful women before us, seem to come alive with new life on today's maidens. This magical atmosphere characterises the vallja, an ancient, sweet, tragic and poignant ballad reminiscent of the hero Skanderbeg who led his people to the land of Calabria. A ballad handed down from generation to generation, from song to song, which today has become a captivating and enveloping phonetic charm sung and danced to the rhythm of instruments such as accordion and accordion. According to tradition, this festival is the commemoration of a very important historical event in the history of the Arbëreshë, the victory of George Castriota Skanderbeg, who, leading a small army, defeated the Turkish armies led by the renegade Balabano, saving the citadel of Kruja on 24 April 1467.

The civitan historian Serafino Basta in 'Il Regno delle Due Sicilie descritto e illustrato di Lorenzo Giustiniani' (The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies described and illustrated by Lorenzo Giustiniani) about the vallje in 1855 wrote:'After lunch on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, it is the custom to gather various companies of young men, who, dressed in oriental fashion, with turbans on their heads, with swords raised high and with flags, go singing the warlike events and victories of the hero of Croia'.The women in the laughs still sing national songs and add to the delight of the onlookers from neighbouring countries who flock to enjoy themselves. It is a tradition to have established these festivals in order to have in the course of the years, a memory of our native country, which imperious circumstances forced us to abandon, we regret not being able to bring back those songs that voracious time has reduced to disconnected fractions and we are sad to see the native customs fall into disuse.

According to the story, the movements performed by the vallja during the dance represent the encirclement technique used by Skanderbeg against the Turkish army. It is no coincidence that the vallja, as it moves, imprisons the strangers in its coils, representing the Turks who are freed after paying the symbolic ransom, which in this case consists of liquor and sweets. The Arbëreshe population thus remains ideally connected to its epic past and with this particular manifestation, tends to weld the ethnic principles to keep the community united.