ESTIVAL DEL MEDITERRANEO - FONDAZIONE TRECCANI CULTURA

FESTIVAL DEL MEDITERRANEO – FONDAZIONE TRECCANI CULTURA

10–11 July 2025 | Ex Convento degli Agostiniani, Lecce | 7:00 PM

The Fondazione Treccani Cultura encounters voices, memories and visions of “Harmonies of the Mediterranean”

Two days to listen, remember, and imagine. On July 10 and 11, 2025, the Fondazione Treccani Cultura will bring light to the evocative spaces of the Ex Convento degli Agostiniani with the Festival of the Mediterranean—a poetic and musical journey into the heart of a sea that has always been threshold and cradle, border and embrace, separation and bridge. More than a festival, it is an authentic encounter of voices, languages, and stories. A vibrant dialogue between enduring memories and visions that traverse the present.

The Festival of the Mediterranean is one of the most significant events of Harmonies of the Mediterranean, the summer cultural series promoted by the Municipality of Lecce with the scientific and organizational support of the Agenzia per il Patrimonio Culturale Euromediterraneo and with the contribution of TAP – Trans Adriatic Pipeline, Lead Supporter of the initiative. From July 4 to 20, Lecce becomes the Mediterranean itself—a crossroads of arts, knowledge, and humanity—reaffirming its Mediterranean vocation as a place of encounter, listening, and coexistence.

The initiative is part of the official program of summer events promoted by the Municipality of Lecce for summer 2025, contributing to the enhancement of the region’s cultural and landscape heritage through high-quality programming accessible to a wide audience, promoting shared knowledge and intercultural dialogue.
In this context, the Fondazione Treccani Cultura presents two immersive evenings, designed as a single breath. Words become passageways, sounds become roots and sails. A collective and intimate reflection on who we are, what we can still preserve, save, and imagine.

The two-day Festival of the Mediterranean opens at 7:00 PM on Thursday, July 10, within the historic walls of the Ex Convento degli Agostiniani. Here begins the first act of a shared journey through the words, sounds, and visions of the Mediterranean. Welcoming the audience is not a formal ceremony, but a gesture of mutual understanding: the voices of Adriana Poli Bortone – Mayor of Lecce – and Massimo Bray – General Director of the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Giovanni Treccani – will inaugurate this collective experience, not merely as institutional figures, but as stewards of a project steeped in memory and charged with future potential. Their contribution is not a preface, but a course being charted.

At 7:30 PM, the cloister becomes a listening space: Poetry as a tool to narrate the Mediterranean, a dialogue between Albanian poet Gëzim Hajdari and writer and essayist Angela Bubba, exploring the Mediterranean as a space of memory, conflict, migration, and resistance. Through poetic language, the mare nostrum emerges not only as a geographical place, but as a cultural and human horizon, where languages blend and identities are reshaped. An opportunity to reflect on poetry's power to preserve stories, wounds, and visions of the future.
At 9:00 PM, words give way to music: Stefano Saletti, Fabia Salvucci, and Giovanni Lo Cascio will perform a concert in homage to the ancient Sabir language, once a bridge between peoples—fishermen, merchants, travelers, soldiers, lovers. A sonic exploration of past and present, where melodies intertwine with the deep roots of our Mediterranean identity.

The second evening, Friday, July 11, begins at 7:00 PM with new waves, new routes, new sounds. “What does it mean to be a poet of the Eastern Mediterranean: rhetoric of a universal hymn” – A conversation with the poet Nouri Al-Jarrah on poetry, exile, and human tragedy is the title of a powerful encounter with Syrian exile poet Nouri Al-Jarrah.
His poetic voice becomes a tool of remembrance and testimony, restoring voice to those who have lost it, navigating through pain, exile, and hope. Joining him is scholar and sensitive interpreter Monica Ruocco, who engages in a dialogue that does not explain, but opens doorways—into war, flight, and the possibility of resistance. Translation will be provided by Fatima Sai, who conveys both the sound and meaning of a language that becomes a bridge. Together, they craft a moment of deep connection, where poetry becomes testimony.

Following this, the famous singer Teresa De Sio takes the stage with a reading accompanied by live music, including three essential and powerful songs. With her is guitarist Sasà Flauto. A performance composed of words and music that tells the story of the Mediterranean through a language that bridges tradition and modernity: tales of women, migration, love, and resistance. Her voice blends song and storytelling, returning popular music to its original function: sharing memory, creating bonds, and calling for collective listening.

The Festival of the Mediterranean, promoted by the Fondazione Treccani Cultura as part of Harmonies of the Mediterranean, stands as a major cultural event, reaffirming the central role of poetry, critical thought, and music as tools of dialogue among the shores of the Mare Nostrum.

These two days are not only a meeting point for artistic and cultural experiences, but also the building of a true community of vision and intent, rooted in the preservation of intangible heritage and the promotion of the Mediterranean as a space of connection, listening, and cooperation.

Lecce—with the beauty of its heritage and the strength of its cultural institutions—once again proves to be fertile ground for shared reflection, new perspectives, and strengthened cultural ties. This is a commitment that the Fondazione Treccani Cultura, the Municipality of Lecce, and the Agenzia per il Patrimonio Culturale Euromediterraneo intend to continue, in the belief that culture is a strategic resource for building a more open, conscious, and supportive future.

For information:
www.agenziaeuromed.it | www.comune.lecce.it | info@agenziaeuromed.it |Facebook / Instagram @armoniedelmediterraneo

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