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.

1. ITALIAN FOLK DANCE
ItalianFolkDance has beenanintegral partof Italianculture forcenturies.Dance hasbeenacontinuous
threadinItalianlife fromDante throughthe Renaissance.
In Italythere are a lot of type of FolkDance in everyregion,infacteach place has itstraditional andtypical
dance.
For example:
 Pugliaisfamousforthe Tarantella
 SaltarellowasborninNaples butdevelopedinAbruzzo,Molise,LazioandMarche (whichare some
of Italianregions)
 In Sardiniathe typical dance isthe BalluTundu
 The traditional dance of Romagnais Sciucaren
TARANTELLA
Tarantella isa freneticdance traditionallyplayedatweddings.The dance hasbeenusedtocure sickness
and as a dance of courtship.Tarantellaisusuallydancedbycouples(thewomenusesrapiditytopersuade
herpartner while mentriestocharme herwithhisagility),orbytwowomen.
Thisdance hasa longhistory,infactwe have three possible origins:
1. The firstoriginateswiththe bite of the Tarantula,Araniaor ApulcianSpider.
2. The secondoriginliesinthe religiousstoryof the St.VitusDance whichiscommonlyreferredtothe
outbreakof dancinginthe Middle Ages.
3. The third originisrelatedtothe villages of TorantoandTarantum.
BALLU TUNDU
The Dance Sardinian(onballusardu),identifiesall of the typical dancesthatyoudance inSardinia. Most
traditional Sardiniandancesare dividedintotwomainfamilies:mono-structureddancesanddances bi-
structured,differentiatedroughlyfromusingtwodifferentrates(seriuandallegru).
However,itcan implyaspecificdance,the mostwidespread,thatmatchesthe name of BalluTundu(Round
Dance),A PassuTorrau(A StepReturning),Balluseriu(LaidDance),andothers,dependingonthe area
concerned. Thistraditionhasbeenpasseddownorallyforgenerations,andiscurrentlyone of the richest
and mostinterestingof Italyandthe Mediterranean. Onthe originsof the Sardiniandance donotknow
much. It is believedthatmayderive fromprehistoricsacredceremoniescelebratedtopropitiate an
abundanthuntingora goodharvest,andthat wouldrepresentnotonlyafun,butit was also the
expressionof acommunity.Eventoday,infact,on the eve of some festivalsare preparingthe fires,around
whichdance.

2. SALTARELLO
The Saltarelloisa setof populardancesof ancientorigin,typical of central Italy.InLazio,Abruzzo,Marche,
Umbria andMolise we can findevidence of thesedances,thatare practiced eventoday.The genesisof the
Saltarellocanbe linkedto“saltatio”,averypopulargenre duringthe time of Latinsbefore the conquestby
the Romans. The Saltarelloispartof the four basicmodesof Italiancourtdance,and is usedasa model for
the developmentof Renaissance dances. The Saltarellodance canbe dancedin two(manand woman),four
or more in a circle or in processional way.Inseveralregions,however,youmayfinddifferenttype of this
dance.The saltarellowasalively,merrydance firstmentionedinNaples duringthe 14thcentury.
The saltarelloenjoyedgreatpopularityinthe courtsof medieval Europe. Duringthe 15th century,the word
saltarellobecame the name of aparticulardance step(a double withahopon the final or initial upbeat),
and the name of a meterof music(a fast triple),bothof whichappearinmanychoreographeddances.
AlthoughaNeapolitancourtorigininorigin,the saltarellobecamethe typical Italianfolkdance of Ciociaria
and a favorite traditionof Rome inthe Carnival andvintage festivities.The saltarelloisstill apopularfolk
dance playedinthe regionsof Southern-Central Italy,suchas Abruzzo,Molise (butinthese tworegionsthe
name is female:Saltarella),Lazioand Marche.The dance is usuallyperformedonthe zampognabagpipe or
on the organetto,a type of diatonicbuttonaccordion,andisaccompaniedbya tamburello.
SCIUCAREN
The story tellsthatthe Gallictribe whichinthe fourthcenturyBC settledinRomagna,alreadyItwas
"popping"the whip.Place of originof thistribe wasFrenchPerpignanwell,"parpignan"iseventhe name is
inRomagnolodialectof the handle of the whip.Butthose making"popping"the whipare defined
"s'ciucaren"because withtheirabilitiesandtheirstrengththeirwhipachievesaremarkable speedandit
surpassesthe terminal pointand"breaksthrough"the wall of the sound(over1.200 km away).The
terminal pointiscalledinRomagnolodialect,"s'ciocchino".Whatmustbe said that the Sciucarenof today
are the "children"of those charactersthatduringlongjourneysaboard wagonsdrivingoxen, whistling
cheerful songsbyguidingthemwiththe crackof the whip.Thiscustomismaintainedandinthe course of
the years had been greatlyperfecteditusingthe whiptoaccompanymusicby smoothandfolk.The snap of
the whip became a symbol of a bizarre andfunnyRomagna.
ROMAGNA MIA
RomagnaMia isan italiansong,writtenbySecondoCasadei,andrecordedinMilan,in1954. The rythm is
that of the waltz,andthe texttellsabouta man longingforhishomeland,Romagna.Becomethe Romagna
a 'national anthem',overtime ithassoldover4 millioncopies.