In Castelnuovo al Volturno, on the last Sunday of Carnival, an ancestral rite comes to life: Gl’Cierv, the Deer Man.

At sunset, the village square, framed by the Mainarde mountains, transforms into an evocative open-air theater.

This collective pantomime, with ancient and uncertain origins, has its roots in pagan rites linked to the cycle of the seasons. The Deer, the central figure, embodies the vital force of nature and its eternal renewal, in an alternation of death and rebirth. Around him move the Martin, the Hunter, the Doe and other symbolic characters, in a representation that unites the sacred and the wild, the rational and the instinctive.

More than a simple reenactment, Gl’Cierv is an act of belonging and identity. Every year it involves the entire community, renewing a deep bond with the territory and offering an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between man and nature.