La Notte della Taranta
On Gingerguide's self-guided Lecce audio tour, La Notte della Taranta is a stop worth about ~60 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type monument
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Lecce Lecce guide
About La Notte della Taranta
The world's largest folk music festival, held every August in the Salento, a celebration of the ancient pizzica tarantella tradition that once served as a ritual cure for tarantula spider bites.
La Notte della Taranta, the Night of the Tarantula, is one of the most important music festivals in Italy and the largest folk music festival in the world, held each August in the Salento peninsula. The festival is centred on the town of Melpignano, about 25 kilometres south of Lecce, and culminates in a Grand Concert that has in recent years attracted audiences of 150,000 people to a single outdoor performance. The music celebrated is the pizzica, the ancient folk music tradition of the Salento, energetic violin and tambourine music that was historically used in the ritual of the tarantism, a form of hysterical episode allegedly caused by the bite of the wolf spider (locally called the tarantula) and cured by prolonged dancing to the characteristic pizzica rhythm. The festival has transformed this ancient tradition into a living cultural phenomenon known worldwide.
Did you know? La Notte della Taranta has grown from a small regional folk festival in 1998 to the world's largest folk music festival, regularly attracting over 100,000 people to the Grand Concert in Melpignano, more than the entire population of Lecce.
How much time do you need at La Notte della Taranta?
Around ~60 min works well for La Notte della Taranta — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at La Notte della Taranta?
Yes — La Notte della Taranta made the cut as one of 20 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Lecce. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Lecce
Hear the story of La Notte della Taranta
Preview the Lecce tour free in the Gingerguide app.