Antonio Genovesi Civilization and Culture Festival

A festival in the birthplace of Antonio Genovesi

The Antonio Genovesi Civilization and Culture Festival takes place in Castiglione del Genovesi, a small town in the province of Salerno overlooking the Picentini hills in Campania. It was here in 1713 that Antonio Genovesi was born—a philosopher and abbot considered one of the most influential voices of the Neapolitan Enlightenment and Europe's first economics professor. His chair of «Commerce and Mechanics», established in Naples in 1754, is universally recognized as the world's first academic position dedicated to economics in the vernacular language.

The festival draws its inspiration from this legacy. It is not a closed academic conference, but a widespread event that brings Genovesi's thought out of books and into the streets of the village, with the ambition of making it accessible and relevant even to those who have never opened his Lessons on Commerce.

Civil economy as a guiding theme

The conceptual heart of the event is civil economy, a tradition of thought that Genovesi helped found, which views reciprocity and trust—rather than just profit—as the engines of development. The festival has adopted a quote from the abbot as its manifesto: «It is a law of the universe that we cannot achieve our own happiness without achieving that of others».

The program weaves together several formats based on this principle:

• Public meetings and round tables with administrators, scholars, and local organizations;
• Participatory workshops on community and active citizenship;
• Artistic residencies and public art installations created directly within the village;
• Digital outreach activities, such as the «Lo Dice Antonio!» podcast and webinar series;
• Moments of dialogue between secular and religious culture, which are historically rooted in this territory.

The Water Path and land art among fountains and washhouses

The festival's most visible initiative is the «Water Path» (Sentiero dell'Acqua) land art residency, launched with the 2025 edition. Italian and international artists are invited to work on the village's historic fountains and washhouses—places of labor and female social life for generations—transforming them into site-specific works made from natural or recycled materials, designed for low environmental impact and integration into the landscape.

These installations gradually form a permanent cultural itinerary, curated by DMC Visit Picentini, which unites nature, collective memory, and participatory art. The project is complemented by Laundry Art, temporary installations made of recycled fabrics curated by 2ND Hand Solidale ODV, designed as a tribute to the village's female heritage.

Organizers: Ràreca APS and the local network

The festival is conceived and organized by Ràreca APS, a social promotion association based in Castiglione del Genovesi and active throughout the Picentini area. The association is also the promoter of the Antonio Genovesi Popular University and community projects like the Social Concierge. The initiative is supported by the Municipality of Castiglione del Genovesi, the GAL Colline Salernitane, and the Ecomuseo dei Picentini APS, with the collaboration of Spazio Up Arte for the curatorial aspects.

Castiglione del Genovesi and the Picentini Mountains

With just over a thousand inhabitants, Castiglione del Genovesi is one of the smallest villages in the province of Salerno, yet it possesses a strong sense of identity: the surname of its most famous son has become part of the village's own name. The historic center, compact and pedestrian-friendly, preserves its rural layout with alleys, springs, and washhouses, while the surrounding area opens up to chestnut groves and the trails of the Picentini Mountains, just a short distance from Salerno and the coast.

For visitors, the festival is an opportunity to discover a part of inland Campania often off the beaten tourist path, where heritage is not found in monuments but in the landscape: the water, the dry-stone walls, the oral history, and village life.

The 2026 edition

Following the first edition in 2024, dedicated to «Active Citizenship», and the second in 2025 titled «Cultivating Community» (held from September 14th to 20th), the organizers have not yet released the dates or the program for the 2026 edition as of the latest update. The reference period remains the month of September. We recommend checking the official website festivalgenovesi.it and the social media channels of Ràreca APS for updates.