Visit Viggiano

City of Harp and Music

VIGGIANO. A STORY OF MUSIC, MUSICIANS AND LUTHIERS

“A peculiar, unexpected and unusual civilization of music originated between the eighteenth and twentieth century in Viggiano. A musical culture that from the height of the Apennine peaks was able to break into the Bourbon, Napoleonic and Habsburg cities, demolishing those images that wanted an archaic, wild and anachronistic South Italy. Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, street musicians reached the squares of the major cities of Europe and United States. Musicians from Viggiano were all over the world, from Russia to Cuba, Turkey, India, etc., and numerous photographs sent by the United States, London and Melbourne attest that the music of the inhabitants of Viggiano has spread almost everywhere. In the first decades of the twentieth-century popular tradition became professional. It is in this context that the important figures such as Leonardo and Giuseppe De Lorenzo, Albert and Victor Salvi, De Stefano, Francesco Miglionico etc. emerged, and they all had the privilege of performing in the most important orchestras and theaters in the world, including the Metropolitan in New York. The musical tradition of Viggiano made a big impression even on Giovanni Pascoli, when in 1884 the poet was appointed as commissioner at the local Boarding school “Silvio Pellico”, and remembered in a letter addressed to Giosuè Carducci the presence of “harp music” all around, that makes Viggiano the Antissa of Lucania “. The musical tradition is alive and strong thanks to the establishment of the Viggiano School of Harp. This school is a Cultural Institute in which the students are committed every day to enhance the musical tradition through the study of the popular harp of Viggiano. The same students, with the support of the Municipal Administration, gave life to their first disc “Fremer l’arpa ho sentito per via...” and obtained important results by participating in various national and international competitions. Every year, in the first days of August, the “Review of the traditional harp” takes place in town; this year was the 11th edition.

GASTRONOMY

The gastronomy of Val d'Agri can boast many excellent products and Viggiano is no exception. The production of "Ferricello Viggianese" in fact, has an old tradition, passed down from generation to generation and it represent the typical dish of festivities. The product has its own product specifications and the DECO (Municipal Name of Origin) mark, as well as a dedicated feast, the "Festa del Ferricello", which takes place in August for five years. The “Ferricelli” are flavored with bread crumbs and walnuts or with meat sauces and local pecorino cheese. Another excellence of the area are the wines with Denomination of Controlled Origin (obtained with Ministerial Decree dated 4 September 2003) "Terre dell'Alta Val D'Agri", produced from grapes located in the municipalities of Viggiano, Grumento Nova and Moliterno , up to 800 m asl; every year it is possible to taste them in August, during the gastronomic festival "Vino sotto le stelle", an event of promotion and solidarity which has reached its XI edition. Other typical traditional dishes are the "Patatelle", potato and pecorino cheese balls cooked in chicken broth, the "Cazun '", large ravioli stuffed with ricotta, the "Rafanata", an omelette prepared with horseradish, a typical tuber of the area also called "Truffle of the poor" because of its very strong taste, I Cazz'marr ', rolls with entrails of kid or lamb. Very typical are also the fresh (f'liciata, ricotta, toma, burrini) and aged dairy products (ricotta tosta) and sausages. Among the traditional desserts are certainly “Panzerotti” stuffed with chestnuts, I Biscuits covered with a cream made with sugar, lemon and egg white, the Sanguinaccio and the "Zepp'le", crepes topped with honey.