Musical Journeys with the Black Madonna in Southern Italy
A documentary film written and produced by Alessandra Belloni
Directed and edited by Francesco Piccolo
Camera work by Daniele Magoni and Francesco Piccolo
Score by Alessandra Belloni and John La Barbera
Copyright 2024/2025 Alessandra Belloni; I Giullari di Piazza
A documentary based on the best-selling book Healing Journeys with the Black
Madonna (Inner Traditions | Bear and Company, 2019) by award-winning singer,
percussionist, teacher and author Alessandra Belloni.
The film was made possible with funding from NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimo’
World Premiere February 6th at Casa Italian Zerilli Marimo 6:30 pm
24 West 12 Street. (Link Coming Soon! Free Event!
The screening will be followed by a live concert presented by Alessandra Belloni ,
Artistic Director , John La Barbera Music Director, & I Giullari di Piazza Italian
Music, Theater & Dance company.
With Joe Deninzon, violin, mandolin & vocals
Mara Gerety violin – vocals
Dancers: Danielle Marie Fusco and Peter de Geronimo.
Music will feature Southern Italian Folk Music and dances, that are part of the film, including the traditional drumming and dance of the Tammorriata in honor of the Black Madonna, sacred chants for the Black Madonna from the regions of Campania & Sicily, Sicilian tarantellas, Neapolitan love songs and original
compositions by John La Barbera and Alessandra Belloni featured in their Opera ‘THE VOYAGE OF THE BLACK MADONNA’ . (Premiered at Cathedral of St John the Divine in 1991)
The film was made possible with funding from NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimo’ (free event)
Reservations: https://www.casaitaliananyu.org/events/musical-journeys-with-the-black-madonna-in-southern-italy/
ABOUT THE FILM
This documentary takes us on a mystical journey of initiation, transformation, and empowerment with award-winning musician and author Alessandra Belloni as she unveils the secret healing powers of the musical traditions of the Black Madonna in Southern Italy. In footage never before seen outside of Italy, the film immerses viewers
in a world of ritual and magic where ecstatic devotional music and dance powerfully transform and heal the heart and soul throughout the beautiful land once known as Magna Grecia.
The film reveals this devotion in all its vibrant complexity as a living descendant of ancient women’s wisdom traditions and the veneration of mother goddesses. We follow a series of musical pilgrimages that Belloni leads each summer to the Southern Italian regions of Campania and Sicily, visiting the sacred sites of the Black
Madonnas known to local folklore as the “Seven Sisters.” It is an intimate and participatory journey, with the camera closely following Belloni and her students as they learn and perform the music and dances associated with each Madonna, taking part in the feast-day celebrations and experiencing their power and mystery in the first person. It also features workshops of ritual drumming and dance featuring authentic tarantella and tammurriata in the region of Campania, led by Belloni and featuring guest artist Nando Citarella on percussion and vocals.
The film includes footage of the rituals never before seen outside of Italy, as well as archival footage collected over Belloni's forty years of fieldwork, offering a global audience intimate access to this little-known ancient tradition.
Belloni guides us as the viewers as she leads her students on this pilgrimage, teaching chants, drum rhythms, and dances. She also interviews local devotees and introduces expert demonstrations from local master folk practitioners dedicated to the preservation and celebration of the Black Madonnas’ ancient devotional music, dance, and local styles of tarantellas.
The pilgrims’ journey takes us to Sicily, where the beautiful icon of the Madonna del Tindari is the oldest known example of a Black Madonna, inscribed with the phrase nigra sum sed formosa – “I am black and comely”, a line from the Song of Solomon.
The Madonna Nera di Milazzo keeps watch over the local fisherman in a beautiful church by the sea, and we experience the visceral power of dance and drumming on the slopes of Mount Etna during the Feast of the Tarantati.
In Campania, we visit the Madonna della Neve and attend her feast-day celebrations that reenact the discovery of her statue in the sea, and the Byzantine icon of the Madonna di Positano who was once syncretically worshipped as the Greek goddess Aphrodite. The powerful rhythm of the tammurriata dance resounds for the Madonna di
Montevergine on the site of an ancient temple of the mother goddess Cybele, long seen as a protector of LGBTQ+ people. And we experience the authentic tradition of the Madonna dell’Avvocata in Tramonti on the Amalfi Coast with tammorriata master Isidoro Caso in a great feast of food, wine and dance. And near Benevento, where the cult of the goddess Isis had its seat in ancient Magna Graecia, the sanctuary of the Madonna di Moiano is home to an emotionally intense ritual long contested by the Vatican. Here we listen to haunting women’s voices who
carry on the ancient tradition of chanting for the Black Madonna in close, dissonant
harmonies. The traditions of the Black Madonna are often invoked by marginalized communities,
and are connected to liberation from fear and protection from plague and suffering. Their frequent African and Eastern roots speak to the interconnectedness of our world and the universality of the human experience of the sacred, and challenge hegemonic and Eurocentric beliefs. Writer and producer Belloni states: “My intention with this new film is to bring to life the authentic rituals in the South of Italy and show how the Black Madonna is still alive today. The music will bring the audience to remote areas where she has been worshipped for thousands of years, with ritual drumming, haunting chants, and sensual trance dances with deep African roots.
The Black Madonna represents the Earth Mother as a living being. Like the earth’s womb, women’s wombs have often been traumatized and their souls damaged. I strongly believe that in this time of turmoil and paradigm shifts, there is a great need for a compelling documentary with a strong message about the Black Madonna. We live in a dangerous time where both women and men need to connect with the true knowledge and healing aspect of the Great Universal Mother.”
Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhFRYTOg-b8
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Italian-born ALESSANDRA BELLONI is an internationally acclaimed award-winning singer, percussionist, dancer, teacher, author, theater and film director, and actress with 45 years of fieldwork experience studying Southern Italian folk music, dance, drumming, theater, and healing traditions. She is committed to preserving the strong
and rich traditions of her culture, and her book Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna (Inner Traditions/Bear and Company 2019) is a best seller on Amazon and Audible; she is also the author of Rhythm is the Cure (Mel Bay 2007). Alessandra co-founded and serves as Artistic Director and Lead Performer of I Giullari di Piazza -- an
Italian music, theater and dance ensemble, and Artist in Residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. She received a special award from the Italian Charities of America in October 2023; she won grants as a Master Folk Artist in 2016 and 2018 from the New York State Council of the Arts, and from the Pennsylvania
Council on the Arts in 2024 and 2025 She is featured in the PBS Series Dream of Italy with Marisa Tomei, who also hired Alessandra as a special consultant for the Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo, produced by the Roundabout Theater Company. Called a “force of nature” and a “Mediterranean volcano” by the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, she is recognized as one of the best percussionists in the world by
DRUM! Magazine. She has designed a line of Italian tambourines with REMO Drums - the largest drum company in the world. She has also produced a feature documentary funded by NYU’s Casa Italiana, Musical Journeys with the Black Madonna, to be premiered February 6 th at NYU.
In New York she has performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the NYC Ballet, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, Madison Square Garden, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Riverside Theatre, Joe’s Pub, the Theater for the New City, and Juilliard.
Francesco Piccolo is a multidisciplinary presence on the Italian video production and music
scene. A videomaker, director, photographer and musician, he was born in Sicily in 1980 where he
pursued his early studies at the Conservatories of Messina and Reggio Calabria, earning a diploma in piano.
He earned a degree in Economics at the University of Messina, then moved to Milan to study for a diploma in Sound Engineering at the SAE Institute. He began his career in Milan in 2007, working primarily in audio recording and music production. He has written and recorded numerous albums and soundtracks, and worked with many artists.
Always with an eye on folk music, he has produced three albums in the Sicilian language. He later expanded his professional activities to photography and video, thanks to his interactions and relationships with professionals in diverse fields. In 2013 he founded Coco Produzioni, a video production studio based in Milan. The studio is active all over the world and works with major Italian and international artists and companies, producing creative videos for the likes of X Factor, Deejay Tv, Rock Tv, Sky, Expo Milano 2015, Armani, Campari Group, Tom Rebl, Isola Design District, Cirque Du Soleil, Anarela, and the Castroreale Jazz Festival.
His unique style is recognized and sought-after by clients in the commercial, theatrical and musical worlds. He has collaborated with numerous musicians on countless videos. He is also strongly dedicated to Sicilian traditional and popular culture, and has produced or directed five documentaries (Fiori e Santi, Fiori e Santi – A Christmas Tale, I Segni del Tempo, Conversazione in Sicilia, I-O).
JOHN T. LA BARBERA, film score composer, producer, guitar and stringed instrument virtuoso and concert artist, has won several awards and commissions from The Jerome Foundation, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Martin Gruss Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, UMass-Dartmouth, and ASCAP.
His expertise as composer, arranger and musical director was valuable in the off- Broadway productions of Souls of Naples, (Theater for a New Audience) and the stage adaptation of Sicilian playwright Luigi Pirandello's short stories in Kaos, (New York Theater Workshop). Folk Opera, Stabat Mater-Donna di Paradiso, was commissioned and performed at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine. His film scores include documentary films, feature films and silent films. He recently produced I’m a Typical New Yorker for actor Dominic Chianese and worked for several labels including: Shanachie records, Meadowlark, Rounder Records, Lyrichord Disks, Ellipsis Arts, and Bribie Records. Since 1973, he has performed in concert halls throughout Europe, South America,
Canada and the U.S. as composer, solo guitarist and chamber musician. Since 1979, he is the co-founder (with Alessandra Belloni) of I Giullari di Piazza, a traditional southern Italian folk music and theater company in New York City. I Giullari is Artist-in- Residence at The Cathedral of St. John The Divine. He is the author of the first and foremost book published in the U.S. on the Italian mandolin called Traditional Southern Italian Mandolin and Fiddle Tunes and Italian Folk Music For Mandolin, with Mel Bay Publications.He is an adjunct faculty professor of
music at Bergen Community College. His music can be found on: Bandcamp, DistroKid, YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, CD Baby and his own website.
www.johntlabarbera.com