Marzano Carnival

The Vallo di Lauro Carnival

The Marzano Carnival is the winter festival of Marzano di Nola, a town of just over 1,700 inhabitants in the province of Avellino, located at the western edge of Irpinia where the Vallo di Lauro merges into the Nola plain. There are no skyscraper-sized floats or weeks of programming here: the carnival is measured in colorful ribbons, accordions, and peasant costumes. It is a village festival in the truest sense of the word.

The event is organized by the Maria SS. dell'Abbondanza Festival Committee in collaboration with the Pro Loco and the Municipality of Marzano di Nola—the same committee that oversees the festivities in honor of the Madonna dell'Abbondanza. The carnival thus opens the community's calendar, preceding the summer and autumn celebrations.

The Laccio d'Amore, the dance of the twelve months

The symbolic heart of the festival is the Laccio d'Amore (Ribbon of Love), also known as ballintrezzo. Twelve pairs of dancers arrange themselves in a circle around a pole from which twenty-four colorful ribbons hang. By weaving and unweaving them to the rhythm of music, the dancers create increasingly intricate geometric patterns, culminating in a final diamond shape. The twelve pairs represent the months of the year, and the circle represents the sun; it is likely the last remnant of an ancient agrarian rite linked to the fertility of the land, which has survived in only a few villages.

In Irpinia, the Laccio d'Amore is a shared heritage among a handful of towns in the Vallo: besides Marzano di Nola, it is preserved in Pago del Vallo di Lauro, Quindici, and Taurano. Watching the Marzano group in action means witnessing a tradition passed down from generation to generation, with children, young people, and the elderly all in the same circle.

The quadriglia, a French legacy turned village rite

Alongside the Laccio d'Amore, the quadriglia is performed—a couple's dance that arrived in Southern Italy with the French in the 18th century and was later reinterpreted by peasant culture. The dancers move in formations that create stars, bridges, and serpentine lines, guided by a capoballo (dance leader) who calls out commands in a dialect-infused French: gran discene, al avant, girè, ballanzè. These are words no one translates anymore, but which everyone in the Vallo knows how to follow.

The costumes also tell this story: knickerbockers, white shirts, and waistcoats for men; long skirts, white aprons, and laced bodices for women, with colors and fabrics varying from town to town.

The 2026 edition

The 2026 Marzano Carnival program opened on Saturday, February 14 at 3:00 PM with the Folk Dance Gathering, which brought local Pro Loco groups to the village for an afternoon of itinerant performances. The festivities continued on Sunday, February 15 with masks in the town center and concluded on Tuesday, February 17, Fat Tuesday, with the most anticipated event: the children's parade, the quadriglia, and the Laccio d'Amore along the village streets, accompanied by a colorful allegorical float.

A carnival connected with all of Irpinia

The Marzano Carnival does not exist in isolation: it is part of the Irpinian Carnivals circuit, a network of festivals that the Province of Avellino and Unpli promote every year with a grand parade in the capital. On March 2, 2025, for example, the Laccio d'Amore group from Marzano di Nola paraded along Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Avellino alongside dancers from Pago del Vallo di Lauro, Quindici, and Taurano, the tarantella dancers of Volturara, and the masquerades of Serino and Teora.

Furthermore, in 2026, Marzano di Nola hosted the first leg of the Paghese Carnival, the itinerant circuit of the Pro Loco of Pago del Vallo di Lauro. This intertwining of calendars makes the Vallo di Lauro one of the most vibrant areas in Campania in February for those seeking authentic folklore.

What to expect

• Rare traditional dances: the Laccio d'Amore is performed in only a few towns in the Vallo di Lauro.
• A family-friendly festival: the children's parade is the centerpiece of Fat Tuesday.
• Live folk music, featuring organettos and accordions.
• Free access: everything takes place in the streets and squares of the village.
• A village to discover, including a sanctuary, a medieval tower, and the remains of a Roman villa.