Puglia travel & food magazine
The Concertone returns to Melpignano on Saturday 22 August 2026: Ermal Meta as maestro concertatore for the first time, the Mediterranean as the theme, and the guests announced so far.
In Puglia the Assumption is not one day but three. The procession that arrives by sea at Monopoli, the dawn concert at Ostuni, the village feasts, and the golden rule for the beaches.
Seven areas, one calendar. From the Negramaro in Lecce and Bari to the Concertone of the Notte della Taranta and the 20th Mediterranean Games at Taranto, week by week.
In August in the Salento you do not plan, you cope. Sagre, luminarie, patron saints’ feasts and the Concertone at Melpignano: the calendar day by day, and the five to pick if time is short.
From 21 August to 3 September 2026, Taranto hosted the 20th Mediterranean Games: 4,000 athletes, 26 nations, 29 disciplines and 21 Apulian towns. Italy finished top of the medal table with 224 medals. The final table, the diary of every day, the sports and the venues.
Opera in the masserie of the Valle d’Itria, the light cathedrals of Scorrano, John Legend at Ostuni and the octopus festival at Mola di Bari. What a Puglian July looks like, with the 2026 calendar as the worked example.
