Campania regional songs

In the 18th century, with the rise of the "opera buffa" - an opera genre that aimed at being understood also by common people - songs appeared also on stage, and a festival of Neapolitan song was established in the 19th century; the Festival was kept every Sept. 7 at the Church of Our Lady of Piedigrotta, Naples.

In 1880 the so-called Golden Age of Neapolitan Song began; that year Funiculì funiculà appeared, which was to become one of the most performed songs all over the world, bringing the genre from a local dialect form to national and international levels. Great opera singers, as Caruso, Pavarotti, Bocelli, and great pop singers have included Neapolitan songs in their repertoires.

Dance appeared first as march or tarantella, later as waltz, tango and fox-trot. Neapolitan songs are accompanied by guitars and mandolins, and sometimes also by typical folk percussion instruments as the putipù, triccaballacche and scetavajasse.