Avola Book Festival

A literary festival for the city of Avola

The Avola Book Festival is the new event dedicated to books and reading, promoted by the Municipality of Avola, in the province of Syracuse, southeastern Sicily. The festival was launched in 2025 with the goal of making culture not a luxury, but a necessity and a right: a challenge, in the words of Mayor Rossana Cannata, to root a love for the written word and the connection between authors and readers within the city.

The theme and spirit

The first edition was built around the theme "Out of Place. Where culture finds its space," an invitation to take literature out of traditional settings and into the city's daily life. The meetings do not take place in closed rooms, but outdoors, in some of Avola's most representative locations, transformed for a few evenings into stages for writers and the public.

Festival venues

The festival is spread across three iconic city spaces:

• The City Hall Gardens, in the heart of the historic center with its hexagonal layout that makes Avola unique;
• The churchyard of the Church of Santa Venera, an intimate setting for evening presentations;
• The Seaside Village (Borgo Marinaro), overlooking the sea, where literature intertwines with music, performances, and tastings.

More than just book presentations

The Avola Book Festival is not just a series of author meetings: the program weaves together literary presentations, musical moments, artistic performances, and sensory experiences, featuring tastings curated by AIS Syracuse and the evening gatherings of the "I Sonnambuli" night-time book club. A way to experience culture as a shared event, in the open air and in the height of summer.

A project for the local area

Promoted by the municipal administration of Avola in collaboration with the local Mondadori bookstore, the festival is intended as the first step of a journey designed to last over time and grow with the community's participation. For the province of Syracuse and all of eastern Sicily, it represents a new cultural hub dedicated to books, in an area already rich in tradition and heritage.