ARGINI Festival — Gualtieri stop

ARGINI Festival: The Po River as a Sprawling Stage

ARGINI Festival is the new cultural project spread across the territory, promoted by the Emilia-Romagna Region and curated by ATER Fondazione, in collaboration with the Teatro Sociale of Gualtieri. Launched in 2026 as a touring format along the great river, the festival is not just a lineup of performances but an immersive experience that invites the audience to move between different places and languages: theatre, dance, music, performances, and national premieres come to life directly on the banks of the Po, between the provinces of Reggio Emilia, Parma, and Ferrara.

The Gualtieri Stop

On July 4, 2026, ARGINI Festival arrives in Gualtieri, in the Bassa Reggiana area, province of Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna). The Gualtieri day is the result of a collaboration between the festival, the Terreni Fertili Festival, and the historic Teatro Sociale di Gualtieri, and features two highly anticipated events, both linked to prestigious awards in the Italian contemporary scene.

Two Ubu Awards 2025 in One Day

At 6:30 PM, on the stage of the Teatro Sociale, "Asteroide", by and with Marco D'Agostin, will be performed: a show that intertwines dance, paleontology, and storytelling in the form of a tribute to musical theatre, awarded Best Dance Performance at the Ubu Awards 2025. In the evening, at 9:30 PM, the evocative Piazza Bentivoglio hosts the national premiere of "L'Aviatore Errante e il Piccolo Principe", a new production by Teatro dei Venti — also Ubu Award 2025 winners — inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's masterpiece, blending poetry, imagination, and contemporary sensibility.

A Journey Along the River

The Gualtieri stop is part of a journey that, from June 6 to August 1, 2026, crosses several riverside municipalities: Boretto, Luzzara, Gualtieri, Sorbolo Mezzani, and Guastalla, between the provinces of Reggio Emilia and Parma, before concluding in autumn in Goro and Mesola, in the Po Delta in the province of Ferrara. Each stop brings performances designed to engage with the landscape and history of the villages along the great river.

Why It's Worth Attending

• Two performances awarded the Ubu Award 2025 on the same day and in the same town
• A national premiere by Teatro dei Venti in Piazza Bentivoglio
• The setting of the historic Teatro Sociale of Gualtieri, a symbolic cultural landmark of the Bassa Reggiana region
• An opportunity to discover Gualtieri, its river landscape, and the villages of the Bassa Emilia region

The Gualtieri stop is an invitation to experience the Po River not just as a natural element, but as a vibrant space for culture, encounters, and wonder.