Pizzica () is a popular

Italian folk dance Italian folk dance has been an integral part of Italian culture for centuries. Dance has been a continuous thread in Italian life from Dante through the Renaissance, the advent of the ''tarantella'' in Southern Italy, and the modern revivals of ...

, originally from the

Salento Salento ( Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula ...

peninsula in

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

and later spreading throughout the rest of Apulia and the regions of

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and eastern

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

. It is part of the larger family of

tarantella () is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...

Dancing the pizzica

The traditional pizzica is a

couple dance Partner dances are dances whose basic choreography involves coordinated dancing of two partners, as opposed to individuals dancing alone or individually in a non-coordinated manner, and as opposed to groups of people dancing simultaneously in a c ...

. The couple need not necessarily involve two individuals of opposite sexes, and often two women can be seen dancing together. Nowadays it has become rare to see two men dancing an entire pizzica. An exception with a pizzica between two men can still be found in the town of

Ostuni Ostuni ( nap, label= Barese, Ostune; scn, label=Salentino, Stune) is a city and ''comune'', located about 8 km from the coast, in the province of Brindisi, region of Apulia, Italy. The town has a population of about 32,000 during the winter ...

, where one of the two men who dance jokingly pretends to be a woman. Another exception is where two men pretend to be engaged in a duel. The most important book about pizzica and

tarantism Tarantism is a form of hysteric behaviour originating in Southern Italy, popularly believed to result from the bite of the wolf spider ''Lycosa tarantula'' (distinct from the broad class of spiders also called tarantulas). A better candidate ca ...

is ''The Land of Remorse'', written by the Italian philosopher, anthropologist and historian of religions

Ernesto De Martino Ernesto de Martino (1 December 1908 – 9 May 1965) was an Italian anthropologist, philosopher and historian of religions. He studied with Benedetto Croce and Adolfo Omodeo, and did field research with Diego Carpitella into the funeral rituals o ...

. There are several traditional pizzica groups, the oldest being Officina Zoé, Uccio Aloisi gruppu,

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS), formed by writer Rina Durante in 1975, is a traditional music ensemble from Salento, Italy. The seven piece band and dancer perform a contemporary style of Southern Italy's traditional Pizzica music and dan ...

, and I Tamburellisti di Torrepaduli. Since 1998 there has been a summer

Notte della Taranta Night of Tarantula (''La Notte della Taranta'') is a music festival in Salento, Apulia, Italy. The Night of Tarantula is focused on Pizzica, a popular folk genre in Salento, and takes place in various municipalities in the province of Lecce and ...

(Tarantula night), consisting of a whole night where many famous musicians alternate their performances with pizzica orchestras. Some of them include

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

Franco Battiato Francesco "Franco" Battiato (; 23 March 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Italian musician, singer, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes, a ...

Gianna Nannini Gianna Nannini (; born 14 June 1954Who Is Who
''Bello e possibile'' ...

Raiz RAIZ () is an Aruban political party. The party was founded on June 9, 2017, by Tai-Foo Lee and Ursell Arends, who is also the party leader. Raiz is a middle-class party with a progressive, social-democratic slant. It aims to distinguish itself fro ...

Lucio Dalla Lucio Dalla (; 4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He also played clarinet and keyboards. Dalla was the composer of " Caruso" (1986), a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor Enrico Caruso, and ...

, and

Carmen Consoli Carmen Consoli (; born 4 September 1974 in Catania) is an Italian singer-songwriter. She has released 11 studio albums, one greatest hits, one soundtrack album, two live albums, four video album and 33 singles, selling 2 million copies in Ital ...

. The 11th Festival was held in Lecce in August 2008.

Notable musicians and bands

* Alessandra Belloni *

Alla Bua Alla may refer to: * Ara Gaya, also called Alla (안라), a city-state kingdom in the part of Gaya confederacy, in modern-day Haman County of Korea Music * "Alla" (song) a song by Swedish singer Sofia * Allá, a rock band from Chicago * '' At.L ...

Anna Cinzia Villani Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

Antonio Castrignanò Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

Arakne Mediterranea Arachne (; from , cognate with Latin ) is the protagonist of a tale in Greek mythology known primarily from the version told by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE), which is the earliest extant source for the story. In Book Six of his ...

* Mascarimirì * Ghetonìa * Officina Zoè * Enza Pagliara

References

External links

Pizzica's videos

Pizzica's texts

La pizzica in the 1779
{{Authority control Italian folk dances