La Notte della Taranta – Galatina Stage

La Notte della Taranta in Galatina

Throughout August, the La Notte della Taranta Traveling Festival tours the towns of Salento, bringing pizzica and traditional Salento music to the public squares. One of the most significant stops is Galatina, a town in the province of Lecce, in the heart of Salento, Puglia. The evening takes place in the historic center, with the stage set up in Piazza Dante Alighieri, drawing thousands of enthusiasts every year.

The home of the tarantate

Galatina holds a unique place in the history of tarantism. Here stands the Chapel of San Paolo, the destination for the tarantate who, according to popular tradition, arrived in the city on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul to perform the healing ritual from the bite of the taranta spider. This deep bond between the town and the myth of the pizzica makes the Galatina stage one of the most symbolic moments of the entire festival: the music that enlivens the squares today is rooted in that ancient ritual, studied by ethnomusicologists such as Ernesto de Martino.

The traveling festival and the Concertone

La Notte della Taranta, founded in 1998, is now the largest festival dedicated to Mediterranean folk music. The Traveling Festival visits about twenty Salento towns during August, culminating in the famous final Concertone in Melpignano, directed each year by a different Maestro Concertatore. The Galatina stage is part of this long folk narrative, offering an authentic taste of tradition before the grand finale.

An evening of music and dance

The Galatina program combines different facets of Salento culture. Alongside the concerts, the public can explore the Taranta Village, a space dedicated to tambourine workshops and meetings, and the dance school run by the festival's dancers, where you can learn the steps of the pizzica and turn the square into a massive collective celebration. There are also dance-theater performances inspired by research into the ritual of folk dance as "symbolic medicine."

A free and popular event

The Galatina stage is free to enter and open to everyone: a community celebration that unites residents, tourists, and travelers from all over Italy and abroad to experience the unique atmosphere of the pizzica nights. The Municipality of Galatina, together with the La Notte della Taranta Foundation, helps keep alive a tradition that is simultaneously identity, memory, and spectacle.