If Bari also has its May Day it is thanks to them. Before becoming a fixed event for all citizens, the Primo Maggio Barese was born from the mind and skills of two young people from Bari, Alessio Micky Artuso and Alice Bergamin. Partners in life and work, the two professionals in the events sector will once again organize at Parco Due Giugno what is more than a simple party, but a real vision of a new way of experiencing the city. While waiting for the fifth edition, we interviewed them to find out who is behind this day of music, celebration and solidarity which has attracted around 20 thousand visitors a year.
How did the idea of a May Day in Bari come about?
Alice: “We work in the music and entertainment sector throughout Europe: Alessio is the founder of the Soul club events agency, and I am a professional in the production and management of events and festivals. Let’s say that he is the mastermind and I am his right-hand man, for more than ten years now. The first of May in Bari is a collective dream, which we have only achieved. They defined it as the event that all the people of Bari wanted, I would explain it as the beginning of a new era of entertainment, for a city that has nothing to envy of the largest European capitals”.
What makes the Barese May Day a unique event in the city?
Alessio: “Our May 1st is the only free event designed to be truly inclusive, with an activity or space designed for all citizens: from children to the disabled, from families to teenagers. We succeeded in this thanks to the many collaborations with different realities and city associations who are now partners of the initiative and who every year bring activities, talks and music inside the Due Giugno park. And obviously also thanks to the all-made-in-Bari team created in recent years, which is indispensable and is the real strength for the realization of the event. After all, we know that great things are done as a team.”
Alice: “I believe that the maximum expression of this approach is in the musical aspect, proposing many genres to allow anyone to recognize themselves especially in music”.
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How did you go about selecting the musical proposals?
Alessio: “We have always wanted three musical stages to share music, beyond ideologies and preferences. Starting from this, in the selection we have always wanted to enhance local artists and give emerging artists a chance: for this edition, for example, we organised, in collaboration with the Sziget festival, a contest which saw the participation of over a thousand emerging artists from all over Italy. We also collaborate with Guttercorp, a label managed by Amerigo Benedettelli, also a young man from Bari who deals with management and communication in the recording industry. Always founded by young people from Bari, the company tries to bring the roots of its land and their concept of inclusiveness throughout Italy. A separate discussion for the evening performances in which we exploited our professionalism to bring suitable proposals to a heterogeneous audience, within the limits of the budget obviously”.
How do you support a free but at the same time extremely complex event?
Alessio: “The 1st of May in Bari exists and is supported thanks to a large investment on our part and the support of some sponsors and private partners, who have embraced the initiative since its first editions, such as the Megamark Group, Bdm Banca, Peroni , and Redbull. The 2024 and 2025 edition won the assignment of the open call on major events curated by Aret, the Pugliapromozione Regional Tourism Agency, including the event in the programming of the Major Events of the Puglia Region with a contribution on the communication part”.
A fair and a not very fair criticism that they made of you.
Alessio: “Those who complain about the cost of beer on social media are certainly making a fair criticism exclusively from the point of price comparison. But if he knew that that figure also includes all the free activities offered at the Park, then that criticism becomes less reasonable.”
How to respond to those who point out this event does not resemble others dedicated to workers’ day.
Alice: “We took the occasion of Labor Day to create a moment of sociality and sharing of a public space designed for all citizens. It is the sublimation of a civic culture which we want to promote, giving all possible space to awareness-raising activities by associations but also by trade unions”.
How do you see May 1st in 5 years?
Alessio: “We always want to improve and we work to evolve the event from an artistic and show point of view to offer to our public. The growth of Bari’s May 1st has been overwhelming since 2022, after the post-pandemic reopening. Now we must try to aim higher and higher, on important names and possible future collaborations. And every person from Bari can contribute to the growth of their city also through an event with increasingly more authority, simply by participating and sharing their own May Day in Bari on social media”.
