Travel Literature Festival 2026

The Travel Literature Festival returns this year for its 17th edition, taking place from June 7 to 14, 2026, at Palazzetto Mattei, headquarters of the Italian Geographical Society, in Villa Celimontana. It features a series of meetings, awards, exhibitions, lectures, screenings, performances, workshops, walks, and activities dedicated to children and people with disabilities. There will be approximately 40 events, including literature, journalism, photography, television, theater, music, short stories/reportages, essays, novels, magazines, graphic novels, travel diaries, podcasts, documentaries, comics, platforms, and multimedia projects.

This edition is dedicated to the narration the world, through diverse disciplines and narrative forms, the journey - both near and far - of people and contexts, landscapes, and humanity: ranging from geography to anthropology, from history to philosophy, from literature to journalism. There are also stories, testimonies, visions, journeys, explorations, adventures, and research, with a prevailing theme, "South!" (the so-called Global South, Southern Italy, the postcolonial vision, attention to indigenous peoples, and environmental issues), to which the group exhibition at Palazzetto Mattei is dedicated, along with other themes related to current events and recent works by authors. Among those present are: Igiaba Scego and Brunori Sas, Nicola Lagioia and Telmo Pievani, Cecilia Sala and Lorenzo Tondo, Monica Maggioni and Alberto Negri, Carmine Abate and Antonella Anedda, Lucie Azema and Saba Anglana, Bruno Arpaia and Marica Di Pierri, Stefano Faravelli and Asmae Dachan, Alessio Mamo and Franco Carlisi, Mauro Minervino and Tiziano Fratus, Duccio Canestrini and Andrea Iacomini, Cong and Edt, Fada Collective.

The program ranges from Africa to Antarctica, from Recanati to Cape Horn, from the Mediterranean to the Amazon, from the Middle East to the skies above our cities. Joseph Conrad, Giacomo Leopardi, Eduardo Galeano, Ernest Shackleton, Hugo Pratt, Italo Calvino, Guido Piovene, Andrea Camilleri, and Antonio Pennacchi (protagonists of a literary game) are also discussed. There are two previews, one on astrophysical subjects, the other theatrical; two focuses, one on small islands, the other on overtourism and intangible heritage; and a forum, dedicated to journeys and other speeds.

Photo: official poster of the event