Palma Campania, Italy: travel guide to the town of the Quadriglie carnival near Naples

Palma Campania is a town in the Metropolitan City of Naples, in Campania, set at the foot of Monte Sant'Angelo in the Vesuvian hinterland about 25 kilometres east of Naples. Home to around 16,000 people, it is best known across Italy for one of Campania's most distinctive carnivals.

For travellers searching for Palma Campania, the Carnevale delle Quadriglie or carnivals near Naples, it offers a unique living folk tradition and a long history.

The Carnival of the Quadriglie

Unlike carnivals built around allegorical floats, the Carnival of Palma Campania revolves around the Quadriglie, folk groups of often more than two hundred costumed performers who, over three days culminating on Shrove Tuesday, compete in lively musical and theatrical shows accompanied by traditional instruments. Documented since the mid-19th century and rooted in earlier festivities, this centuries-old tradition is twinned with the famous Carnival of Viareggio and is the heart of the town's identity.

History

Palma grew from the ancient Roman settlement of Ad Teglanum, buried by an eruption of Vesuvius around 512 AD, after which survivors founded the present town on a nearby hill. Through the Middle Ages it passed among noble families who left palaces such as the 15th-century Palazzo Compagna, and the old Castello quarter preserves traces of its walls and the church of San Michele Arcangelo.

Practical information

Palma Campania lies about 25 kilometres east of Naples near Nola, easily reached by road and rail, and makes an interesting stop in the countryside between Naples and the Apennines, especially in the carnival season.