Muntagninjazz

Muntagninjazz in Pacentro

Muntagninjazz is one of the most original jazz festivals in Abruzzo: a widespread and traveling event that brings great live music to the squares, woods, and mountain huts of the Peligna Valley in the province of L'Aquila every summer. Founded in 2007 and organized by the Muntagninjazz APS association, the festival involves about ten municipalities and dozens of different locations, transforming villages, natural theaters, springs, and mountain trails into open-air stages.

Among the most fascinating stops on the schedule is the Municipality of Pacentro, a medieval village in the Peligna Valley dominated by the towers of the Castello Cantelmo-Caldora and recognized as one of «The Most Beautiful Villages in Italy». Nestled at the foot of the Morrone massif, at the gates of the Majella National Park, Pacentro provides Muntagninjazz with an exceptional natural and architectural backdrop.

The hike-concert at Fonte Romana

In Pacentro, the festival traditionally offers a hike-concert in the Fonte Romana area, a format that has become a trademark of Muntagninjazz: the audience reaches the concert site on foot along a mountain trail, where live music awaits them immersed in nature. It is a way to experience the beauty of the Majella territory and the surprise of an open-air stage together, far from the town squares, among beech forests and springs.

A festival between music and territory

Muntagninjazz is not just a series of concerts: it is a cultural project that enhances the Peligna Valley and the Abruzzo mountains. Alongside evenings in village squares and major concerts in Sulmona, the festival offers hike-concerts like the one in Pacentro, which guide the public through the most beautiful spots in the area. This formula has made Muntagninjazz a recognized model of a widespread festival, capable of intertwining music, art, environment, and sustainable tourism throughout the province of L'Aquila.

Pacentro, a village in the Peligna Valley

Attending a stop of Muntagninjazz also means discovering Pacentro, one of the most evocative villages in the Abruzzo hinterland, with its medieval historic center, the Castello Cantelmo-Caldora, and the surrounding Morrone and Majella mountains. The bond between the town and the event, in the heart of the Abruzzo Region, makes the Pacentro stop one of the most beloved appointments of the widespread festival, where jazz music meets hiking and the landscape.