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The
coasts above all, are remarkable landscapes and environments, among them the Alimini
Lakes, on the Adriatic coast, and Porto Selvaggio, on the Ionic coast.
The soil is very fertile, some of the finest olive trees and grapes grow here, and
their products are exported worldwide. Its coasts are varied, and can be sandy or
rocky, but all boast pristine beaches and crystal-clear waters. Some of the most
renowned locations in Salento for summer holidays (from May/June to September) are:
Otranto, Santa Cesarea terme, Ugento, Porto Cesareo, Gallipoli, Santa Maria di Leuca,
Torre dell'Orso, Castro, San Cataldo etc.. |
A SECULAR MUSIC
Threre is a legend that say: “A spider bites a women between the legs.
And from there, a rich cultural history is born”.
Dressing the poisoned woman in a long white gown,
the girl's family recruits a team of musical doctors - men who employ an alternative
medicine of the tambourine, harmonica and flute to suck the spider's venom from
the writhing girl's soul. It is then, with the pulsating beat of the pizzica tarantata,
that the woman dances, spinning and weaving violently until the tarantula inside
her "dies.
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A SECULAR LANGUAGE
Salento is also well known as Magna Graecia (Greater Greece) for
good reason; it and Greece have formed part of the same cultural space since at
least 700 BCE. It was at that point when the first settlers from Greece arrived
on the Italian shores, establishing colonies and creating trading posts that brought
them closer to the indigenous civilizations, such as the Etruscans.
Grecìa Salentina consists today of nine villages with a total population of around
40,000 people, of which about 25,000 are Griko speakers. In Calabria about 9,000
people populate the nine villages that constitute the Grecano region. Salento having
recently taken the initiative in the protection of its culture.
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TARANTA'S NIGHT,
SPIDER'S NIGHT
!
In order to recover this tradition a concert circuit between the nines village was
born, that end with a big concert in Melpignano. This concert is the second in italy
in order of magnitude (after the first of may concert), every year more then 80.000
people gathering togheter dancing all night at the beautifull sound ....”della Taranta”.
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