Radici Vive

A festival rediscovering food rituals

Radici Vive is a widespread festival born in Putignano, in the Metropolitan City of Bari, to bring community rituals linked to food and the land back to the center of city life. The idea is simple yet powerful: to get our hands dirty, literally, and rediscover the gestures that have marked Puglia's rural calendar for generations. This is not a spectacular event to watch, but a participatory experience to live together, where residents become the protagonists of their own local knowledge.

Three events in the heart of the historic center

The project is organized into a series of events that follow the natural cycle of the seasons and the products of the Apulian land. Each stage focuses on a different ritual of local food culture:

• Grano Vivo — the bread ritual, featuring shared bread-making and a tribute to the town's ancient ovens, the beating heart of the community.
• Rosso Vivo — the tomato sauce ritual, prepared together in the square according to the summer tradition of Apulian families.
• The Grape Harvest — grape treading and the ancient gestures of harvesting, celebrating the transformation from fruit to wine in the cellars of the historic center.

Community, manual skills, and intangible heritage

Radici Vive is promoted by the associations Impara l'Arte APS and Lavori dal Basso APS, organizations active in promoting Putignano's traditions and reclaiming local spaces and crafts. Each event combines manual practice with moments of storytelling and discussion, with meetings and talks that view ovens, workshops, and cellars as true guardians of intangible cultural heritage. The festival thus intertwines gastronomy, memory, and sociality, showing how typical products and daily gestures are a heritage to be passed on.

Putignano beyond the Carnival

Known throughout Italy for its famous Carnival, one of the oldest in Europe, Putignano reveals a more intimate and authentic side with Radici Vive, made of community, land, and tradition. The festival is part of a network of cultural initiatives that enliven the historic center during the summer season and offers residents and visitors a different way to experience Puglia: not through spectacle, but through the gestures, flavors, and living roots of an entire territory.

The dates for the 2026 edition have not yet been announced: we recommend following the channels of the organizing associations and the Municipality of Putignano for updates on the program.