The "Maggio" is an ancient folk representation held between April 30th and May 1st every year. A group of men, known as "maggiaioli," visit the farms in the countryside and the inhabited centers of Rocca and Castiglione d'Orcia. In front of the houses, they sing the "Maggio verses," songs that celebrate the return of spring and wish health and prosperity to the inhabitants. Between one house and another, a small band plays marches.

Each hosting house offers the maggiaioli a small refreshment and money for a snack. The tour starts in the farms in the afternoon of April 30th and ends in front of the cemetery at dawn on May 1st, with the last verses sung in memory of the deceased maggiaioli.

The melody and technique of the singing, with a soloist and a chorus in response, recall ancient forms of Mediterranean folk music, such as Sardinian singing. The origins of the "Maggio" are probably pre-Christian, linked to propitiatory rites for the return of spring and the good harvest.

This tradition is also found in other areas of Tuscany, such as Lucchesia and the Maremma Grossetana. It is not a tourist show but a practice felt by the inhabitants of Castiglione and Rocca, which requires respect and discretion. During the "Maggio," visitors are invited to follow the maggiaioli in silence, listening to the singing that spreads among the houses in the night, like an echo of the past.
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Castiglione d'Orcia
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