Roccapiemonte Carnival

The Roccapiemonte Carnival: Roccapiemonte in masks

In the days leading up to Shrove Tuesday, the town of Roccapiemonte, in the province of Salerno, transforms into a large open-air stage. The Roccapiemonte Carnival is a popular festival that involves the entire town, from the San Potito district to Piazza Polichetti and Piazza Zanardelli, featuring parades of allegorical floats, masked groups, mascots, majorettes, and dance schools. It is a street carnival, promoted by the municipal administration together with local associations, aimed primarily at children and families in the Agro Nocerino-Sarnese area of Campania.

Two days across squares and districts

The program is divided into two distinct days. The first is dedicated to entertainment and a parade in the town center, with Piazza Zanardelli as the focal point; the second, on Shrove Tuesday, is the true heart of the festival, featuring a double parade of allegorical floats: the morning procession starts from the hamlet of San Potito and reaches Piazza Polichetti, while in the afternoon the route moves from Via Kolbe to Piazza Zanardelli. The streets are closed to traffic, and the parade moves slowly, accompanied by music, confetti, and a following of masked groups.

'Ò 'ndreccio dei Vituosi', a 17th-century tradition

Alongside the floats, Roccapiemonte preserves one of the oldest carnival traditions in the Agro Nocerino-Sarnese: in the hamlet of San Potito, the 'Ò 'ndreccio dei Vituosi' has been performed since the 1600s, carried on by the Vituosi di San Potito group. Here, there are no floats, but traditional dances and poetry. The first part of the show is the dance involving the weaving of grapevine cuttings adorned with paper flowers and colorful ribbons, from which the entire performance takes its name. Once in the square, the dancers form a circle and recite the 'a Zeza cantata, which tells the story of Pulcinella and the widow. Originally, it was an all-male performance, with half the group dressed as women because women were not allowed to participate in the allegorical parades; in recent years, local girls have also joined to help with the choreography.

Allegorical floats and local associations

The floats are built by local associations and volunteer groups, who work for weeks in warehouses and garages before the parade. Notable subjects featured in recent editions include:

• Dia de los Muertes, by the Mente Cuore e Forza Association
• La Corrida, by the S. Antonio Cultural Association
• Toro Loco, by Fiorentina Oliva and her brother
• I Pirati, by the Maria SS. Community Center

The parade also features the Majorette MCF folk group of Roccapiemonte, the Artando cultural association, the Juanny dance school, the Dance Academy, street performers, and mascots.

A carnival designed for families

The Roccapiemonte Carnival is more than just a parade: part of the program is reserved for children, with entertainment villages set up in the square, inflatables, soap bubbles, gadgets, and games. It is an occasion for the town to come together, with children in masks following the floats and families crowding the sidewalks along the route.

Roccapiemonte in the Agro Nocerino-Sarnese carnival

The carnival is a defining event for this part of the Campania region: in neighboring towns, historical masks like Alesio in Sarno or the Princess Nuceria in Nocera Inferiore parade, while in Roccapiemonte, the specificity lies in the bond between the modern festival of floats and the ancient ritual of the Vituosi. The town, nestled at the foot of Mount Solano and dominated by the ruins of the medieval castle, thus offers visitors two carnivals in one: the colorful and noisy one of the parades and the sober, ritualistic one of the hamlet, where the song in dialect continues to tell the story of Pulcinella just as it did three centuries ago.