Ascanio Celestini
An encounter with Ascanio Celestini, between storytelling and dialogue with the audience, starting from Poveri cristi: peripheries, marginality, invisible people and human dignity.
A growing Festival · Third edition 2026
Festival del Pensiero Cristallino
Culture, identity and thought in Riviera Cristallina.
September 18, 19 and 20, 2026
Free admission
Three evenings confirmed
The third edition of Festival del Pensiero Cristallino concluded on Sunday, September 20, with full audiences at all three evenings: Ascanio Celestini’s civic storytelling at Teatro al Castello in Bovalino Superiore, an evening of theatre, music and humanistic existential thought at Mariciò, and the closing conversation with Federico Quaranta in the square of Staiti.
The third edition has concluded. Three evenings, three towns, admission was free as it has been since the first edition.
DatesSeptember 18, 19, 20, 2026
AdmissionFree
StatusThird edition concluded
The 2026 edition
After the format was launched in 2024 and consolidated in 2025, the third edition brought the Festival to three different towns over three evenings, confirming its distinctive formula: it does not take place in a single venue, but changes town every evening and towns with every edition.
Theatre · Music · Humanistic Thought
Marina Baldi introduced Teatro Gruppo Spontaneo, Paolo Sofia and Sefora Rosa at Mariciò.
Federico Quaranta
“The places that change us. And that we change”: a cultural and personal conversation with Federico Quaranta about landscape, memory, belonging, identity, community and the possibility of creating development without turning places into products.
September 18, 2026 · Opening evening
Ascanio Celestini at Teatro al Castello
The first day brought together Ascanio Celestini’s storytelling and Teatro al Castello in Bovalino Superiore: guest and venue were part of the same story.
Guest
Ascanio Celestini opened the 2026 Festival
With his narrative theatre and his ability to tell stories of human peripheries, collective memory and the lives of those left at the margins, Ascanio Celestini is one of the most authoritative voices in contemporary Italian culture.
Author, actor and director, his work crosses memory, marginality, civic speech and popular storytelling.
On September 18, 2026, he opened the third edition of Festival del Pensiero Cristallino at Teatro al Castello in Bovalino Superiore. It was a public conversation, combining storytelling and dialogue with the audience, starting from the themes of Poveri cristi: peripheries, marginality, invisible people and human dignity.
The evening was opened by Filippo Strano, founder of Riviera Cristallina, and Bovalino mayor Vincenzo Maesano, with an introduction by Dr Antonella Filastro, director of IPUE. At the end of the evening, a book table was curated by Mondadori Point Locri.
Venue
Teatro al Castello in Bovalino Superiore
The venue is not a backdrop. It is part of the story. On September 18, the stone seating and the castle of Bovalino Superiore hosted the conversation with Ascanio Celestini, held in collaboration with the Municipality of Bovalino.
September 19, 2026 · Second evening
Theatre, music and humanistic thought at Mariciò
The second day brought the Festival to the sea: Marina Baldi introduced a choral evening where theatrical performance, music and convivial space became one shared environment.
Guests and contents
Theatre · Music · Humanistic Thought
Introducing the evening
Marina Baldi
Forensic geneticist, consultant in some of Italy’s major judicial cases and IPUE lecturer.
On September 19, the Festival presented an evening of theatre, music and humanistic existential thought, moving through identity, freedom, fragility, relationships, violence against women and the search for meaning.
Marina Baldi introduced Gruppo Spontaneo’s theatrical performance, dedicated to violence against women. Paolo Sofia and Sefora Rosa then developed the same themes through a shared musical moment: an evening conceived as a space for listening, presence and participation.
- September 19, 2026 · 8:00 pm
- Introduction · Marina Baldi
- Theatrical performance · Gruppo Spontaneo
- Musical moment · Paolo Sofia & Sefora Rosa
- Mariciò · Marina di Gioiosa Ionica
- View photos from the evening
Venue
Mariciò, Marina di Gioiosa Ionica
On September 19, the Festival moved to the seafront, into the spaces of Mariciò on Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica. A welcoming and convivial venue where theatre, music and words built a direct dialogue with the audience.
Mariciò
Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo · Marina di Gioiosa Ionica (RC) · Tel. 329 291 2496
September 20, 2026 · Closing evening
Federico Quaranta in Staiti
The third day closed the Festival in a village with a strong identity: the dialogue on the places that change us found its home in Piazza Santa Maria della Vittoria.
Guest
Federico Quaranta closed the 2026 Festival
Federico Quaranta has travelled through and narrated many Italian territories, bringing places, landscapes, local knowledge and communities to a broad audience.
On September 20 at 7:00 pm, Piazza Santa Maria della Vittoria in Staiti hosted the Festival’s closing conversation, held in collaboration with the Municipality of Staiti.
“The places that change us. And that we change” explored memory, belonging, identity and the responsibility of telling and transforming territories without reducing them to products.
The evening was opened by Staiti mayor Giovanna Pellicanò.
- September 20, 2026 · 7:00 pm
- Closing conversation
- Piazza Santa Maria della Vittoria · Staiti
- View photos from the evening
Venue
Piazza Santa Maria della Vittoria in Staiti
Here too, the venue is not a frame. It is a living part of the evening’s theme. On September 20, Piazza Santa Maria della Vittoria in Staiti hosted the conversation with Federico Quaranta, in dialogue with a village that preserves memory, landscape and community.
%20-%20Italy%20-%2024%20April%202016%20-%20(2).jpg?width=1600)
%20-%20Italy%20-%2024%20April%202016%20-%20(1).jpg?width=1200)
Staiti photos: Jacopo Werther, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons.
Third edition 2026
The three evenings in pictures
Three towns, three languages, one thread. Images from the third edition, from Teatro al Castello in Bovalino Superiore to Mariciò in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica, and finally the square in Staiti.
Friday, September 18, Bovalino Superiore
Saturday, September 19, Marina di Gioiosa Ionica
Sunday, September 20, Staiti
Photos: Riviera Cristallina. Free to use with source credit.
Manifesto
A Festival created to make room for thought
Festival del Pensiero Cristallino was created to open a meeting space between ideas, people and territory: a real and symbolic place where culture, psychology, identity, community and territorial development can enter into dialogue.
It is not an isolated event, but a permanent cultural project: an appointment that grows over time and contributes to the deeper narrative of Riviera Cristallina.
Culture is one of Riviera Cristallina’s driving forces, together with nature, tourism, wellbeing, food and wine, sport and innovation. The Festival places words, listening, existential health, the memory of places and the possibility of thinking together about the future of the territory at the center.
A cultural project promoted by IPUE, Istituto di Psicologia Umanistica Esistenziale “Luigi De Marchi”, and Riviera Cristallina.
A growing path
The 2026 page preserves the story of previous editions, because the Festival was born as a stable and already rooted cultural asset.
2024 · The beginning
Open 2024 poster
July 22-28: myth, migration and personal identity
The first edition was born as part of a wider project to enhance Riviera Cristallina: tourism and psycho-physical wellbeing entered into dialogue with the rediscovery of roots.
2025 · Consolidation
Open 2025 poster
Three evenings to rediscover meaning, roots and vision
The second edition, from September 5 to 7, 2025, consolidated the Festival as a widespread appointment across wellbeing, awareness and identity in Riviera Cristallina.
2026 · The third edition
Open 2026 poster
Three evenings, three towns, full audiences
The third edition, on September 18, 19 and 20, 2026, crossed three places and three languages: civic storytelling in Bovalino Superiore, theatre and music in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica, and a conversation on place in Staiti. A village of a few hundred residents filling its square is, for the organisers, the most significant result of the edition.
Free admission
The Festival is free
Every event in the third edition had free admission, as it has since the first edition.
Festival travel packages do not sell admission to the events. They offer accommodation, experiences across the area, daytime activities, possible tastings, local assistance and evening transport to the events.
Experience the Festival in Riviera Cristallina
For guests arriving from outside the area, Riviera Cristallina offers stay experiences designed to enjoy the Festival weekend in a complete way. The Festival remains free: packages include tourism services, not admission to the appointments.
Media and press review
Materials, press releases and press content dedicated to Festival del Pensiero Cristallino.
Closing press release, September 21, 2026
Three evenings and three towns with full audiences, from Teatro al Castello in Bovalino Superiore to the finale in Staiti with Federico Quaranta.
Open the press release
Third edition press folder
High resolution photos, videos, logos and captions from the three evenings.
Open the press folder
Ascanio Celestini · Venue confirmed
The opening evening will take place at Teatro al Castello in Bovalino Superiore.
Open the graphic
Teatro · Musica · Pensiero Umanistico
The second evening will take place at Mariciò with Marina Baldi, Gruppo Spontaneo, Paolo Sofia and Sefora Rosa.
Open the graphic
Federico Quaranta · Closing evening
The closing evening will take place in Piazza Santa Maria della Vittoria in Staiti.
Open the graphic
2026 poster
The general poster of the third edition with the three confirmed evenings.
Open PDF
Festival dossier
A summary document with the history, identity and development of the Festival.
Open the dossier
2024 poster
The first edition of the Festival, from July 22 to 28.
Open PDF
2025 poster
Second edition: three evenings to rediscover meaning, roots and vision.
Open poster
Press Room
Riviera Cristallina’s general press room also includes Festival materials.
Open Press RoomPart of the Riviera Cristallina ecosystem
Festival del Pensiero Cristallino is part of an ecosystem that brings together culture, territory, tourism, innovation and community within a shared development vision.
Riviera Cristallina
The territorial and cultural project.
Open the siteAI Travel Planner
Packages, experiences and travel tools.
Open the plannerWeb Experience
Explore Riviera Cristallina with the interactive map, points of interest and territorial content connected to the Festival experience.
Explore RivieraPress Room
Press materials and institutional updates.
Open Press RoomContacts and governance
Institutional references for the project.
Open contacts