"La Compagnia degli Zanni" is a new folk group, born in Pescorocchiano (Rieti), which name come from traditional masks of the carnival period of our lands, known as Cicolano, a region situated in Valle del Salto. "Zanni" derives from the latin mask of "Sannus", celebrated by Cicerone in "De Oratore" and represent different protagonists of the imaginary world of peasants, from the past to our days.

The most important masks are Turco, Guerriero and Zannone, who, with their dialect ability, underlined by "The Sword's Dance", bring to life to a particular "Moresca", accompained by the “Conquist of the Castle”, remembering the Paladini of France and knights poems. Other important figures of Carnival are: il Dottore (the Doctor), la Strega (the Witch), la Zingara (the Gipsy), Il Cacciatore and l'Orso (the Hunter and the Bear), il Mago Malagigi (the Magician) and so on.

Our company is made up by 40 people, both men and women, and our aim is to savage cultural traditions of our country: dances, popular songs and tales, where the protagonist is a funny farmer called Tuttopera. We propose the "Saltarella", a popular dance of middle Italy, and "Ballo della Pantasima", all accompained by musical instruments, like an accordion, tambourine and "putipò" to fix the rhythm. The customs of the group are inspired from the pictures contained on the Register of Cicolano, dated back to XVIII century, an important and extraordinary treasure, preserved in the State's Archives of L'Aquila. We are at the very first experiences and we have especially organized festivals and special events, to make our group famous among other people: for example in autumn the "Chesnut's Day", to celebrate the chesnut harvesting, whose our lands are very rich, numerous shows and parades in occasion of carnival, the "Grain's Day" at the end of June. Moreover we also go to different countries to animate nights when their patron saints are celebrated.

In the year 2001 we went to Agrigento at the international "Sagra del Mandorlo in Fiore" and we have partecipated at the "Rassegna Internazionale del Folclore" in Tagliacozzo. Nowadays our intent is to continue and to try to involve other boys and girls in our company. We want day after day to improve and go better and organize cultural exchanges to make friends all over the world.