“Palio della Mezzaluna”
Palio of the Crescent
It is a very important event in our town
also for its historical implications
On September 22 in 1594 a
Turkish fleet reached the
mouth of the Tara river, 4 km.
away from Massafra. They
fought the Christian troops
Many among the soldiers
were from Massafra, led
by the bishop of Mottola,
Jacopo Micheli
After a hard battle, an
overwhelming victory
In order to celebrate the ventures,
Massafra’s people set up the “palio”, a
tournament in historical costumes
In 1957 the “ Palio dei Rioni “ was founded.
Massafra is divided into six
neighbourhoods:
Pappacoda
Imperiali
Santi Medici
Santa Caterina
Gesù Bambino
San Marco
The celebrations for the palio
begin in the afternoon, when
the six neighbourhoods are
blessed in front of the Dome
and swear chivalry royalty
In the procession knights, pageboys,
armigers parade, projecting the audience in
a magnificent and mysterious age
The knights challenge each other trying to
thread their lance through a ring hanging
down a tower
Then you can enjoy the relay race
in the main streets of the town
The winner is the athlete who first reaches
the square with the torch lit in his hand
sets fire to the cracker placed in front of
the main authorities of the town
The Carnival
The Carnival in Massafra has
a long tradition
(60 editions so far)
It is one of the most important in Apulia
It is well known as really funny
Every year at Carnival there is a parade of
floats along the main street of the town
The floats are made of
papier machè and take
part into a competition
Children, young people and
adults enjoy the Carnival
They join maskers in
dance and
everybody has fun
The official mask of
Massafra’s Carnival is
Gibergallo, a type of clown
Schools also take part in the contest
with very nice groups, who perform
in front of the jury
This is one of their permormances
The procession of
the “Mysteries”
It is a long procession
It features 8 floats of wood and sculptures of
scenes of the Passion
It takes place every Good Friday
The statues include
the Dead Jesus and
the Lady of Sorrows
Festival of
grain
It takes place in Summer
All people gather on a very old farm
The carved
watermelons contest
Artists at work…
Artists compete to carve out the best
sculpture!
The event takes place in
Summer at a facility by the sea