Between the Italian regions of Campania and Lazio, on the slopes of the ancient volcano of Roccamonfina, lies a landscape where traces of an older world still endure. Known as the Toraglie, this network of small rural hamlets has preserved a rich tradition in which singing accompanied every aspect of life: agricultural work, celebrations, religious devotion, births, and the everyday rhythms of a farming community surrounded by olive groves and chestnut woods.

Today, this fragile oral heritage is at risk of disappearing, threatened by depopulation, the decline of traditional rural life, and the gradual loss of collective memory.

It is from this remarkable cultural landscape that Voices from the Toraglie takes shape. The new album by Le Ficufresche will be released on June 2 by Liburia Records in physical and digital formats, with distribution by Xango Music and Galileo Music Communication. Since the early 2000s, Le Ficufresche—Maura Sciullo and Immacolata Argiento—have devoted themselves to extensive field research, seeking out the last elderly women who still carried this repertoire in their memory. Moving from house to house, through village squares, public washhouses, church steps, and family homes filled with old photographs, they recorded songs, stories, voices, and recollections that might otherwise have been lost forever.

Voices from the Toraglie brings together these years of research in a collection of sonic snapshots gathered across different times and places. Through their own voices, Le Ficufresche revive this repertoire, alternating faithful interpretations with sensitive contemporary reworkings. The album also incorporates original field recordings, allowing listeners to hear the voices of the women whose memories and songs inspired the project.

The repertoire reveals the many roles music once played in women’s lives: work songs, improvised folk verses, lullabies, playful and satirical songs, ritual chants, and devotional music. In doing so, the project contributes an important new chapter to the ethnomusicological mapping of Campania, bringing attention to a cultural area that has remained largely undocumented. The duo’s artistic language emerges from a deep connection with the landscape itself. Here, human song becomes part of a wider natural polyphony—the wind moving through leaves, the calls of animals, and the breath of the earth—echoing a way of listening and belonging that has shaped generations.

The name Le Ficufresche comes from the Cantata dei Mesi (“Song of the Months”), an ancient Carnival song in which each month is represented through the cycles of nature and the fruits of the land.

“Every year we gather fresh figs from the trees,” the duo explains. “Perhaps those same trees once listened to these songs. We dry the figs and eat them at Christmas, carrying a small piece of that memory forward.”

The artistic vision and identity of the project were developed by Le Ficufresche together with Davide Della Monica. Most of the recordings were made by Cristiano Della Monica, who also oversaw the artistic production of Carminella, Maronna mia Maronna, Metti na fava, and Vendemmia. Artistic production for Canto alle Ulive was curated by Francesco Di Cristofaro. The album was recorded and mixed by Davide and Cristiano Della Monica, with mastering by Gianni Roma. The cover photograph is by Davide Della Monica. Guest musicians featured on the album include Guidonia Caliendo (vocals), Gianluca Fusco (diatonic accordion), and Francesco Di Cristofaro (double flutes).