Appennino Photo Festival

The Appennino Photo Festival in Ascoli Piceno

The Appennino Photo Festival is the main review of nature and landscape photography in the central Apennines. Founded in 2019 from an idea by the Ph3 Association and grown around the Sibillini Mountains, the festival has built a precise identity in a few years: narrating the mountain, wild nature, and the relationship between man and landscape through photographic images. The artistic direction is entrusted to Stefano Ciocchetti.

In the 2026 edition, the festival expands its reach and arrives in the Municipality of Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche region, choosing the evocative Forte Malatesta, a Renaissance fortress overlooking the Castellano river, as its first major venue. Here, the opening stage of the event takes shape, in dialogue with the theme chosen for the year: "Regenerate. Where the journey heals".

The exhibition "Nel segno della luce" by Photonica3

The heart of the Ascoli stage is the anthological exhibition "Nel segno della luce" by the Photonica3 collective, the group's first major exhibition. Over 80 images have been selected from an archive of approximately 500,000 shots, the result of years of photographic research on the Apennines.

The photographs are by the collective's authors, including Stefano Ciocchetti, Roberto Verolini, Lorenzo Lambertucci, Luca Tambella, Sergio Paparoni, and Giuseppe Del Balzo Ruiti. The exhibition dedicates a special tribute to the work of Lorenzo Lambertucci, a deceased member of the group.

Guided tours and meetings

The exhibition is accompanied by a calendar of guided tours led by members of Photonica3, who guide the public in discovering the images and the stories that generated them. The events take place on Sunday afternoons, by reservation, to experience the exhibition in a more participatory and intimate way.

A distributed festival across the Apennines

The Ascoli Piceno stage is just the beginning of the Appennino Photo Festival's annual journey, which unfolds in several moments distributed throughout the territory. The program includes the summer summer weeks with meetings, workshops, and the awards ceremonies for the international competitions Asferico and IBC Photo Award, and an autumn session linked to the Impressum competition, enriched by photographic walks.

In addition to Ascoli Piceno, the festival involves some villages in the Marche hinterland affected by the earthquake, including Belforte del Chienti, Caldarola, Camporotondo di Fiastrone, Cessapalombo, and Serrapetrona, with the inclusion of Tolentino and Ascoli Piceno itself in the 2026 edition. A network of places that uses photography as a tool for rebirth and for telling the story of the journey and care for the territory.

Why visit

For photography, nature, and mountain enthusiasts, the Appennino Photo Festival in Ascoli Piceno is an opportunity to admire high-quality images in a unique historical setting, and to discover the most authentic and wild face of the Marche Apennines. An event that combines art, environment, and the identity of the Piceno area.