There was a time in our beautiful country when the arrival of spring was not something people checked on a calendar or discussed through weather forecasts: it could be heard. As April gave way to May, voices began to move through streets and village squares, singing verses that welcomed the new season; in different parts of the country, they were known by different names like Maggi, Maggiolate, or Canti del Maggio,but the idea behind them was much the same: spring had returned, and that was a good reason to celebrate!
Maggiolate were not polished nor formal, they belonged to ordinary life. Groups of singers, often young people but not only them, would pass from house to house or through neighborhoods, stopping in courtyards and walking through the center of town, in some places carrying greenery, flowers, or branches. Elsewhere, the emphasis fell on the songs themselves: verses of greeting, praise, courtship, good wishes, but also playful requests for food, wine, and small gifts.
