The literary festival dedicated to non-fiction will offer prizes, meetings with authors, workshops, exhibitions and shows, from morning until late at night in 11 locations between the historic center and the seafront. Over 150 free entry events are planned, including 100 book presentations. The twelfth edition reflects on the implications of Artificial Intelligence
FANO (PU) – It will take place in Fano from next Wednesday 26 June to Sunday 30 June “Passages Festival 2024” which is supported by the Municipality of Fano and the Marche Region and is part of the calendar of initiatives of Pesaro, Italian Capital of Culture. The theme of the twelfth edition is “Error and artifice”, a starting point for reflection on the relationship between artificial intelligence and the ‘feeling’ of error which does not belong to it and which, instead, is typical of our humanity. The night speech of the festival will be dedicated to the theme, which will come at the conclusion of five days of book presentations, meetings with authors, workshops, exhibitions and shows, from morning until late at night in 11 locations between the historic center and the seafront.
Four awards will be awarded during the festival: the Passaggi Award, the “Andrea Barbato” Journalism Award, the Fuori Passaggi Award and the ‘Una Lettura tra le cloudi’ Award for unpublished graphic novels. Furthermore, Passaggi hosts the final evening of the “Franco Fortini” International Literary Award dedicated to poetry.
The festival is divided into thematic reviews which will be set up in the most evocative places of the city, starting from Piazza XX Settembre where the authors best known to the general public will find their place, continuing with the Pincio gardens where ‘Fuori Passaggi Music & Social’ will speak to the new generations. The Montanari Media Library will be the place for workshops and books for children and teenagers, while on the seafront of Lido and Fosso Sejore book presentations will be scheduled at breakfast time (Bon Bon Art Cafè) and aperitif time (Bagni Elsa). The fifteenth-century setting of the Benedictine Cloister will open up to specialist exhibitions on artificial intelligence, art, philosophy, science, history, geopolitics, economics, and current events. The latter will also be hosted in the former church of San Francesco which will also give space to poetry.
At Bastione Sangallo, the garden terrace on the city’s rooftops, the non-fiction exhibition dedicated to “Mind Body Soul” returns with wellness practices and book presentations. New to this edition is the opening of the ‘Passaggi Libri e Caffè’ bookshop which will host the graphic novel exhibition ‘Passaggi tra le clouds’ and an exhibition of comic strips. There will be no shortage of ‘Chalices of science’, conversations with aperitifs with teachers from the University of Camerino (‘L’Uccellin Belverde’ tea room). Finally, the program includes a writing masterclass curated by Scuola Passaggi and guided tours to discover Fano and the surrounding area.
The meetings with the authors start at breakfast, in the morning at 9.30, with “Buongiorno Passaggi”, at Lido di Fano, in the outdoor space of the Bon Bon Art Cafè. Here curious, particular books will be offered, and whether we are talking about the philosophy of sweetness or sports support, fashion or design, the place will offer everyone present coffee or cappuccino.
After the books for breakfast, come the hours at the seaside, slow, summery, fun, warm, but for those who have children or grandchildren it will already be possible in the afternoon to participate in the workshops for children and teenagers scheduled at the Memo-Mediateca Montanari (historic centre) and in Bagni Torrette (on the southern coast of Fano).
La Memo is, like every year, the kingdom of the little ones: not only does it host the workshops, but every day, at 6.30 pm, a book is presented in the two exhibitions dedicated to under 18s: “Piccoli asSaggi – Non-fiction to grow up” and “Ask yourself why – Philosophical books for boys and girls”.
At aperitif time you can take advantage of the “Fuori Passaggi aMare” beach event, in the beautiful setting of Bagni Elsa (Fosso Sejore, north coast of Fano): it is here, at 6.30pm, that cocktails, books and music combine perfectly .
From the sea to the historic center. At 6.30 pm, outside the “L’Uccellin Bel Verde” tea room, the much-loved aperitifs of “Calici di Scienze” return, with the teachers of the University of Camerino.
At the same time, at the Bastione Sangallo, the garden terrace on the city’s roofs, the spotlight is on the “Passaggi di Benessere: Anima Mind Corpo” exhibition which will be repeated in the same way with which it won over the public last year : from 6.30pm to 7.30pm, workshop practice linked to the themes of the book (free and in collaboration with the Meditamondo Association; from 7.30pm to 8.30pm presentation of the book with the author. For example, if the essay is on yoga, the workshop will be a yoga practice.
From the Bastione Sangallo to the Radicioni Gardens, near the Basilica of San Paterniano where from 7pm to 11pm, artists and fans of graphic novels and comics will meet to attend the events of the “Passaggi tra le clouds” exhibition.
At 7 pm the thematic exhibitions start in the splendid Benedictine Cloister and in the evocative, open-air former Church of San Francesco: every evening, until midnight, we will talk about economics, technologies and artificial intelligence, geopolitics, women, science, art , philosophy, history. Plus an intruder: poetry, which at San Francesco will be the protagonist of the last evening, Sunday 30 June, during which the finalists will be presented and the winner of the “Franco Fortini” International Literary Prize will be proclaimed.
From 7pm to midnight the Pincio of Fano will also be active for “Fuori Passaggi Music&Social”, the event that looks at the younger generations. Two spaces will be set up for meetings: the large auditorium in front of the Arch of Augustus and the “lounge-bar” in the gardens, with a more intimate audience, set up in collaboration with Rebel House.
Here we are, finally, in Piazza XX Settembre, where the central stage of the festival will be set up: here the authors best known to the general public will find their place.
To complete the 2024 programme, the guided tours of Fano and its surroundings with the professional guide Manuela Palmucci and the free writing masterclass, curated by Scuola Passaggi, which will be hosted in the premises of the new Passaggi Libri e Caffè bookshop, in via Sansovino, in front of the Basilica of San Paterniano.
Passaggi Festival takes us on a fantastic, non-virtual journey inside the pages of books, strange, barely classifiable objects which, although inanimate, speak to us, listen to us, give us the possibility of living many lives and, sometimes, even of discovering our. And even more concretely it means breathing in an atmosphere, getting to know an author, meeting readers, picking up a book and stopping to read it in a bar in the center or relaxing on the beach, possibly with a lot of questions in mind and a great desire to ask them more.
