Cannasona - Zampogna Festival

Cannasona, the zampogna festival in the heart of Cilento

Cannasona is the festival that every July restores the ancient sound of the zampogna to Cannalonga, a small town in the Province of Salerno, Campania. For two days, the Cilento village transforms into an open-air stage: musicians arrive from all over Southern Italy, gathering in Piazza del Popolo, from where the music spreads through the alleys, small squares, and in front of houses, following a ritual that belongs to the collective memory of Cilento.

An initiative by the Rievoka Association

The festival was born in 2025 from an idea by the Rievoka APS Association of Cannalonga, an organization dedicated to recovering the folkloric, gastronomic, and social traditions of the area. Since its first edition, the initiative has received support from the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, the Municipality of Cannalonga, and other local entities. It stands out as a unique event in Campania for its chosen theme: the zampogna, an ancestral instrument of Southern Italian sound, and with it, the entire universe of folk music made of ciaramelle, tambourines, organettos, and dance steps.

The 2026 program

The 2026 edition took place on Saturday, July 18th and Sunday, July 19th, with events spread across Piazza del Popolo, the historic center's alleys, and the small square in the Casino area.

• Saturday, July 18th, 10:00 AM - Musicians' gathering in Piazza del Popolo, the opening moment where instruments are tuned and the festivities begin.
• 1:00 PM - Convivial lunch with guest musicians.
• 5:00 PM - Borgo in Festa, a musical walk through the narrow streets of Cannalonga.
• 6:30 PM - Calabrian tarantella workshop led by Ciccio Nucera.
• 8:30 PM - The Cummito, the large collective feast at the Casino area square, via Carmine 32.
• Sunday, July 19th, 5:00 PM - Tambourine workshop led by Mario Puorro.
• 9:00 PM - Dance party in Piazza del Popolo with Manuel Scarpitta and the Folk Band.

Workshops, crafts, and flavors

Alongside the concerts, Cannasona dedicates ample space to the transmission of knowledge: the folk dance workshops are open to both beginners and those already practicing the tarantella, allowing participants to get into the rhythm before the evening party. The route through the village is accompanied by exhibitions of Cilento crafts and food and wine moments that tell the story of local products, in an intertwining of music, trades, and dining that defines the event.

The first edition in 2025

The first edition, held on July 19th and 20th, 2025, had already established the festival's structure: a gathering of musicians in the square, a greeting to the Madonna del Carmelo at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, a convivial lunch for zampogna players, the Borgo in festa walk, and the evening dance party. On Sunday, there was an in-depth meeting titled The zampogna of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, with Antonio Giordano, Toribio Antonio Cortazzo, and Gianluca Zammarelli, a Cilento tarantella workshop with Aniello Tancredi, and the closing concert by the group Kiepò. The organizers concluded it with the declared goal of making it a permanent fixture of the Cilento summer.

Cannalonga, a village of traditions

Cannalonga, with just over a thousand inhabitants in the Cilento hinterland and a few kilometers from Vallo della Lucania, is best known for the Fiera della Frecagnola, the ancient September fair linked to the pastoral world and goats. Cannasona is, in some ways, its summer and musical counterpart: a way to bring back to the square, in July, the same peasant and pastoral identity that the zampogna has told for centuries.

Why attend

Those who arrive at Cannasona do not find a stage and an audience separated, but a community that plays and dances together: it is a participatory festival where the visitor is invited to enter the circle of the tarantella. It is also an excellent opportunity to discover the hinterland of the Cilento National Park, away from the crowded beaches of July, and to listen live to instruments that elsewhere are now only heard in archival recordings.