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    The Folk Music Festival That Started With A Spider Bite

    Night of the Taranta, an Italian folk music festival akin to Woodstock, celebrates a musical tradition that dates back to antiquity.
    by Sylvia Poggioli Oct 17, 2017 2 minutes
    Italian descendants perform the Tarantella, a dance that originates from a spider bite, in Curitiba, Brazil. / ORLANDO KISSNER / Getty Images

    The tarantella is a lively folk dance and musical style originating in southern Italy's Apulia region, the heel of the Italian geographic boot.

    Its name derives from the poisonous bite of a local spider and is rooted in pagan tradition.

    Today, it's the theme of one of Europe's biggest annual folk music concerts, now in its 20th year. It's called Night of the Taranta,

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