As part of the “Festa della Poesia – Lorenzo Calogero”, Giovanni Longo presents a site-specific project developed in dialogue with the poet’s writings.
The title is drawn from one of Calogero’s verses, establishing a relationship between writing and an artistic practice that interweaves image and matter. Fragments, presences and traces emerge from the darkness through light, constructing an uncertain geography in which memory, perception and vision overlap, while the boundary between document and fiction remains deliberately undefined.
The “Festa della Poesia – Lorenzo Calogero”, conceived and curated by director and publisher Nino Cannatà and promoted by Lyriks Edizioni, with the support of the Municipality of Melicuccà and the patronage of the Calabria Region, the Regional Council and the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, was created with the aim of reasserting the central importance of the Calabrian poet as one of the most original voices of twentieth-century European poetry.
This year’s programme brings Calogero’s work into dialogue with Italian and international poetry across different periods and languages, from Ovid and Leopardi to Amelia Rosselli, through contributions by contemporary poets, artists and critics including Milo De Angelis, Andrea Cortellessa, Marina Valensise, Franca Mancinelli, John Taylor, Giuseppe Caccavale and Marco Palladini. The programme also includes an event with American poet Jorie Graham and the presentation of Luigi Tassoni’s volume Gli infiniti di Lorenzo Calogero, published by Lyriks.
The festival brings together poetry, theatre, visual arts and music, with a particular focus on environmental sustainability, the promotion of the Aspromonte area and civic education programmes for all ages. The programme also includes the expansion of the Viale dei Canti, an open-air poetry trail inaugurated in 2025, and an exhibition at Palazzo Capua featuring works by Giuseppe Caccavale, Giovanni Longo and Giuseppe Correale.
Giovanni Longo
L’occhio rivolto ai sonni
Site-specific installation
Palazzo Capua, Melicuccà (RC)
6–11 August 2026
Festa della Poesia “Lorenzo Calogero”
For the full programme, visit festadellapoesia.org
Giovanni Longo 