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9–10 May | Lecce
Presented by Fondazione Treccani Cultura ETS, the Festival del Mediterraneo Treccani 2026 explores the Mediterranean through an inspiring journey of memory, cultural heritage and future visions, reaffirming its enduring vocation as a living space of exchange, encounter and transformation.
The programme forms part of the broader Festival Treccani della Lingua Italiana (Lecce, 8–10 May), establishing a rich thematic dialogue that places language, myth and storytelling at the heart of contemporary cultural reflection.
Through lectures, dramatic readings and live performance, the Festival evokes the literary and symbolic heritage of the Mediterranean—a place where peoples, languages and traditions have met, intertwined and evolved over centuries, while remaining a dynamic horizon from which new ideas, meanings and perspectives continue to emerge.
Featuring Emanuele Trevi and Valter Malosti
Live music by Andrea Cauduro
Part performance, part lecture, PSICHE MEDITERRANEA weaves together spoken word, dramatic interpretation and live music to reveal the timeless power of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, often regarded as one of the most beautiful stories ever told.
Far more than a simple tale, it unfolds as a profound meditation on the human condition—an image of the cosmos and the soul, reflecting the destiny of the individual while resonating with the philosophical thought of the ancient world.
Although immortalised by Apuleius in The Golden Ass, the story draws upon a far older oral tradition that travelled across the Mediterranean, evolving through generations as it passed from voice to voice.
Live music enriches the narrative with an immersive and evocative soundscape, while the staged readings restore presence and emotion to its characters, bringing the enduring imaginative power of myth vividly to life.
Lecture by Emanuela Bufacchi
Professor of Italian Literature at the Università Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples and Scientific Adviser to the Dizionario biografico e tematico delle donne in Italia.
This lecture restores visibility and centrality to the women who have shaped the history of the Mediterranean, whose voices have too often remained at the margins of official historical narratives.
Drawing together literature, history and cultural imagination, it offers a fresh interpretation of the Mediterranean as a space animated by female figures whose lives generated culture, transformed identities and forged connections across its shores.
The result is a compelling narrative that illuminates overlooked histories and reveals the Mediterranean not simply as a geographical space, but as a living fabric of stories, encounters and human relationships.
