Roots and routes
You can study all your life, but you’ll never learn something as well as when you do it with an expert. That is what people have been doing for centuries, passing on knowledge, from one generation to another, to reveal the secrets of a profession or a region. This is the aim of Charm and Participation project in Lagonegro, building an interactive workshop to pass on knowledge, know-how and traditions linked to painting, sculpture, photography and handicraft to future generations.
Picerno, The Capital Of Rights Of The Most Disadvantaged. Every story of migration is an exceptional tale of courage, strength and hope, and the story of everyone who leaves their life seeking a better one deserves to be told and never forgotten. The town of Picerno has decided to stage the incredible story of Vito Marcantonio, born in a family from Picerno, a second-generation immigrant raised in the ghetto of East Harlem, once entirely populated by Italians, Puerto Ricans and African Americans.
'Without technique, talent is only a dirty dress', remarked Georges Brassens, a musician from Basilicata, who has had a piazza named after him in Marsico Nuovo. Soon, his name will be used elsewhere: for a music competition, to be organised every year starting from 2019 to pay tribute to the combination of technique and talent: the Brassens Prize. There will be three aims: to highlight the profile of the French singer-songwriter, underlining his origins; to enable artists from all over Europe to perform in an important competition; and finally, to become an important reference point for national and international tourists.
The ideal crest for Montescaglioso should have three symbols: an image of the Madonna, the plume of the Bersaglieri and a horse. Incredibly, Montescaglioso’s residents have managed to run an event that includes all three elements. Let’s take a step backwards: the people in the village find out that Matera will host the 67th national Bersaglieri rally on 19th May 2019, with the invitation to host a brass band.
Creating a network between different municipalities, people, artists and complementary creative experiences. This is the Culti’s festival goal: Innovative Local Culture; three days focused on all the expressions in contemporary creativity. A new way of giving life to urban spaces, in order to celebrate culture and tradition and to present them in an innovative way. To unite a community in the name of art.
Irsina is a town that changes through its residents. A lot of people emigrated, but in recent years there has been an influx of foreigners, who have bought houses and promoted new cultural initiatives, making Irsina a town with an international profile, but a town which has preserved its authenticity and tradition. One of the most ancient traditions is the cult of Sant’Eufemia, the patron saint, represented by a beautiful statue by Andrea Mantegna in the Cathedral with artifacts from the De Mabilia Collection. The aim of the project 'Traditions and Contaminations from the World' is to combine these two elements – international identity and deep-rooted traditions – through international and Italian artist residencies, where artists will re-interpret works in the Collection and the sacred rituals linked to the traditional cult of Sant’Eufemia.
What sound does a route make? And a mountain? What music can you hear as you remain close to a secular tree? If we cannot answer these questions, it is because we have noisy, distracted lives, and we are losing the habit of beauty and wonder that certain natural scenarios continue offering us. Maybe we have also lost the habit of being together, meeting people, sharing thoughts and ideas without using a smartphone.
San Costantino Albanese becomes an open-air museum, to celebrate the life and works of its most famous citizen, Enzo Schillizzi.
A theatre production strongly linked to the artist’s homeland and rooted in the community will develop into two differently themed itineraries, the arbëreshe tradition and the rural world, which will be presented to the public on the tenth anniversary of the artist’s death, in a three-day event which expresses the town’s vision of the Capital for a Day event.
Roots anchor us to the land, they make us safe and stable, a place we can grow in. The Basilicata Roots Festival will take place from 29th March to 31st March in Brienza, and will be a tribute to one of its most famous citizens, Francesco Mario Pagano, known as 'the Plato of Naples', who played an important role in the Italian Enlightenment period and in Neapolitan politics. He was a historic and versatile figure, a legislator, a man of letters, and of culture, and a martyr for freedom.