Human towers are a tradition throughout the Mediterranean.
Human towers are typical during festivals, celebrations and religious rituals, as they represent the desire to ascend to Heaven.
In addition to the spiritual meaning, for lower classes it represented a willingness to challenge more powerful and richer classes.
For this reason, songs chanted during the construction of towers often make reference to the desire for revenge against the abuses of the upper classes.
Towers of different sizes are typical of Catalonia (Spain), Greece, North Africa, and Southern Italy.
All types of towers have a few common features: during their construction there is always an accompanying song and music, the base is often circular, and towers are usually built on occasion of religious or popular celebrations.
Historical Background
Already in the middle Ages, in the Spanish regions of Catalonia and Valencia, dances used to lead to the construction of small human towers. Usually, these dances were held at the end of Easter processions.
The oldest evidence of Catalan Moixigangues and Balls de Valencians date back to the Fifteenth century, but it wasn’t until the Seventeenth and Eighteenth century that these practices became widespread in Catalonia and Valencia.
Since then, the tradition spread to other parts of Spain, and eventually to Southern Italy.
These traditions later evolved into Castells in Catalonia, and Pizzicantò and Scaricavascio in Molise and Basilicata.
In Italy there is a strong symbolism of the tower as an opportunity to rise against the privileges and the oppression of the political class, an element still present in popular songs.
Game Communities
P'zz'cantò, Irsina (Matera), Basilicata
P'zz'cantò, Potenza (Potenza), Basilicata
Pizzicantò, Castellino del Biferno (Campobasso), Molise