Curios:

The problem is represented by the attitude of some of the participants. Actually, many young people go to Torrepaduli only to camp in the place and take soft drugs and alcohol, some of them looking for a presumed “pizzica-trance”. Year by year, there are much more people who have nothing to do with the traditional music of Salento and often bother those who try to form a group to dance. When it is possible to find space to form a group and start dancing, immediately people crowd in it like it was a disco and those who want to dance in a traditional manner (i.e., with only two people within the group) are forced to renounce.

Patron Saint History:

Very little is known about the life of Saint Rocco De La Croix, a popular plague-stricken healer who lived in the XIV century. Born in Montpellier and early left an orphan, Rocco gave out his riches to the poor and went on a pilgrimage to Rome. Once reached Acquapendente, near Viterbo, he stopped to look after the plague-stricken. During a travel to meet the Pope in Rome, he fell ill with plague. Once healed, he left but was arrested as a spy in Voghera and imprisoned until his death, five years later. From the first half of the XV century, the cult of Saint Rocco spread over Europe and several confraternities, hospitals and churches were created in his name. Saint Rocco represents hope and protection for those who turn to him to defeat plague.