Festivaletteratura

The Festivaletteratura di Mantova is Italy's most celebrated literary festival — a five-day event in September that occupies the entire historic centre of UNESCO-listed Mantova with readings, author conversations, debates, and cultural events across the city's magnificent Renaissance palaces, piazzas, and churches. The festival was founded in 1997 and has become the Italian equivalent of the Hay Festival or Edinburgh Book Festival, attracting 700 or more participating writers and intellectuals from around the world and 100,000 visitors over its five days. Events are held in the Piazza Sordello, the Palazzo Ducale, the churches and cloisters of the Gonzaga city — settings that amplify the literary and intellectual content with their historical resonance. The festival's programme covers fiction, non-fiction, poetry, science writing, and political thought in Italian and international contexts. Tickets sell out quickly; advance booking essential.