Everything is ready in Monte Sant’Angelo to celebrate the UNESCO heritage of the Sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo, registered in 2011 in the list of World Heritage assets within the serial site “The Lombards in Italy, the places of power”. The city, which in addition to the Sanctuary holds a second site, namely the ancient beech forests of Umbra Forestin the year of the Apulian capital of culture, from Saturday 22nd to Tuesday 25th June is preparing to celebrate the “Lombard Monte Sant’Angelo” and the Lombard traces in the Sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo with a series of cultural and artistic events.
We start on Saturday 22 June, 13 years after UNESCO recognition, with “The White Night of cultural heritage”: museums, open monuments and free guided tours. From 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm it will be possible to visit the monuments of the city: the Sanctuary of San Michele, the TECUM museums, the Castle, the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Tumba known as “Rotari’s Tomb”, the Tancredi Ethnographic Museum and the multimedia museum Il Path of the Angel. Book now https://forms.gle/
On Saturday 22nd Monte Sant’Angelo will also celebrate the “Romantic night in the most beautiful villages in Italy” with an installation in Largo Tomba di Rotari.
The next day, Sunday 23 June, the two UNESCO sites of Monte Sant’Angelo are reunited thanks to a special path: “the path of the two UNESCO Sites”, from the Sanctuary to the Umbra Forest with Monte Sant’Angelo Francigena.
Furthermore, on Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th June, two workshop events organized by the Pro Loco: on the 24th (at 6pm at the Sanctuary, in Piazza Carlo d’Angiò) there will be space for the “Longobardi for kids: get involved” initiative. The following day, at 6.30 pm at the Tancredi Ethnographic Museum, the “Longobards for a day, the Lombard vase” workshop.
Also on Tuesday 25 June, to close this series of initiatives, “I am the Capital of Puglia – the Gala of Culture” is scheduled, a great party that will celebrate – together with the Puglia Region and the Teatro Pubblico Puglia – Monte Sant’Angelo Regional Capital of culture for 2024 and the cultural heritage of our territory. In Monte Sant’Angelo, on the occasion of this recognition, artists, protagonists and institutions will take part who every day raise the name of Puglia at a national and international level. Among the guests: Renzo Arbore (connecting), Ettore Bassi, Paolo Sassanelli, Gianna Fratta, Carmine Padula, Pasquale Stafano and Gianni Iorio, Licia Lanera, Mario Perrotta, Davide Grittani, Nicola Genco, Giovannangelo de Gennaro, Radiodervish, the homage to opera (UNESCO intangible heritage) with the Foundation Paolo Grassi in the 50th anniversary of the Valle d’Itria Festival in Martina Franca and the closing entrusted to the Notte della Taranta Orchestra.
The awards were presented by various regional institutions: the president of the Puglia Region Michele Emilianothe vice president Raffaele Piedmontesethe Councilor for legality and culture Viviana Matrangolathe Director of the Tourism and Culture Department of the Puglia Region Aldo Patrunothe President of the Pugliese Public Theater Paul Pontiusrepresentatives of the regional agencies Apulia Film Commission and Pugliapromozione, the President of ANCI Puglia Fiorenza Pascaziothe Mayor of Mesagne Rolling pinsamong others.
Furthermore, they will be told cultural residences of the Capital (theatre with Bottega degli Apocrifi, cinema with Audiovisual Memoirs of Daunia, craftsmanship with Legambiente, literature and poetry with Rhymers club and tourism with Vostok100k by Lorenzo Scaraggi), will be inaugurated the sustainable kinetic site-specific installation “Fragments of reality” by Alessandro Lupi positioned in the upper atrium of the Sanctuary for the “The light of the Archangel” project. Fragments of Reality is a series of site-specific sustainable art installations that operate 24 hours a day without electricity. The technique consists of small mirrors moved by the wind that reflect the environment, natural light during the day and artificial light from public lamps or moonlight at night.
For the special year of the Cultural Capital of Puglia the Municipality has also promoted the philatelic cancellation with Poste Italiane.
“Celebrating our first UNESCO site in this very special year for Monte Sant’Angelo will represent a moment of joy and authentic celebration for the entire community. Thanks to UNESCO, our sites are even more usable, known and included in paths of excellence which have already brought the name of Monte Sant’Angelo onto the international cultural stage in these thirteen years since the first recognition, and will continue to do so”. declares Pierpaolo d’Arienzo, mayor of Monte Sant’Angelo.
“The celebrations to celebrate the recognition of the Sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo this year will be combined with a great gala of Apulian culture which will bring together many artists, institutions and protagonists of our regional cultural panorama in Monte Sant’Angelo. This is a way to inaugurate in the best possible way the next major events and the activities of the cultural residences that will make Monte Sant’Angelo’s summer unique in the year of Capital of Culture of Puglia”. the words of Rosa Palomba, deputy mayor and councilor for culture and tourism. “We will also promote special events with the Lombards in Italy and the most beautiful villages in Italy with the Romantic Night” – adds the councilor, also in her capacity as national vice-president of the Italia Langobardorum Association and coordinator of Puglia of the Association “The most beautiful villages in Italy”.
In July, however, Monte Sant’Angelo will celebrate its second UNESCO site: the ancient beech forests of Umbra Forestregistered in 2017 as part of the transnational asset “Ancient primordial beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe”. It will take place on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th July “Happy birthday Faggete”, a two-day period of guided tours, shows and cultural events.
Saturday 6 July A NIGHT IN THE FOREST, night walk in the Forest. Reservations https://forms.gle/
On Saturday 6 July the most awaited appointment is with “A night in the forest, night walk”. A night in the forest is not the silence that a chaotic place can give during the day, but the awakening of a hidden nature that awakens at dusk. Here then are the calls of owls, barn owls, and tawny owls, but also the grunting of wild boars in search of acorns or fruits that the forest drops, or the murmur of leaves as foxes and hedgehogs pass by. Perhaps at Lake Umbra you will also be able to come across some roe deer who come there to drink. Here, then, is a night in the Forest, where the almost impossible visit relies on hearing, touch and smell to discover a new face of a fairy-tale place. The path suitable for everyone, lasting a few kilometres, includes stops to observe the animals and listen to the sounds. The experience will begin at 8.30 pm and end around 11.00 pm. Departure from the Trattoria in Foresta.
Sunday 7 Bike in the Forest (departure from Elda Hotel at 10.30 am. Info Mooveng Rental and Green Tour in Puglia) and the second stage of the “Path of the two UNESCO Sites” with Monte Sant’Angelo Francigena (departure from the Forest towards the Sanctuary).
The special project “Monte Sant’Angelo Capital of Culture Puglia 2024” is promoted by the Municipality of Monte Sant’Angelo, by the Department of Tourism, Economy of Culture and Promotion of the Territory of the Puglia Region and by the Consorzio Teatro Pubblico Pugliese.
