The whistles of Rutigliano are part of the Apulian handicraft.
Rutigliano is a small town in province of Bari known for the production of these terracotta products.
Every year the Terracotta Whistle Fair takes place here on the 17th January during the Saint’Anthony the Abbot Festival, where many artists and artisans exhibit ceramic and argilla items with various colours and shapes: animals, celebrities, caricatures of people during their daily life or in their job.
The craft production of pottery in Rutigliano has very ancient origins, dating back to VII-VI century B.C.when, the primitive man who lived in this area, started using the red clays situated in the territory and realized vases, bowls, jars and etc…
And in effect many ceramics remains have been found in the necropolis in the surrounding countryside.
It’s a long tradition still carried out and become part of the history and the economy of the city.
Symbol of the Whistle Fair of Rutigliano is the Rooster, which is also the most ancient figure of whistle discovered and dates back to the XIV century. The rooster represents the fertility of the earth and also the male virility and infact the boyfriends were used to offer their fiancè a rooster-whistle during the Saint’Anthony the Abbot Festival, as declaration of love.
In 2004, in the former Monastery of San Domenico, the Whistle Museum has been opened and it hosts a large collection of more than 700 whistles, many of them coming from the National Competition of the Terracotta Whistle, organized every year in the same days of the Whistle Fair.
viaggieitinerari... in Puglia by Valeria Dicarlo 