Centrale Fies Festival (Drodesera)
The performing arts festival inside a hydroelectric power plant in Garda Trentino
About Drodesera
A festival inside a hydroelectric power plant
Few settings in Italy are as evocative as Centrale Fies: an early 20th-century hydroelectric power plant, still partially operational, transformed into a production and research space for contemporary performing arts. It is located in Località Fies, in the municipality of Dro, in the Province of Trento, in the heart of Garda Trentino, where the Sarca Valley narrows between rock walls. It is here that Drodesera, the festival that started it all and remains the most anticipated event of the season, takes place every summer.
From 1980 to today: a history spanning over forty years
Drodesera was born in 1980 as a local village festival and grew to become a benchmark for the European performing arts scene. In 1999, Barbara Boninsegna and Dino Sommadossi, with the Il Gaviale Cooperative, founded Centrale Fies, giving the space a permanent vocation as a home for artists, residencies, and productions. Today, Centrale Fies is a true cultural enterprise, a permanent laboratory where theatre, dance, music, visual arts, and new media intersect without hierarchy.
What to expect
This is not a festival of light entertainment: Drodesera offers radical art, research-based languages, bodies, sounds, and installations that question the present. The audience moves through the industrial spaces of the power plant—turbines, machine rooms, outdoor areas by the stream—transitioning from one performance to the next, often in direct contact with the artists.
- International dance, theatre, and performing arts productions
- Scouting projects for emerging artists selected through international open calls
- Exhibitions, workshops, talks, and moments of reflection
- A constant focus on the most experimental contemporary Italian scene
The 2026 edition in three chapters
Following the formats of previous years, the 2026 edition of Centrale Fies is divided into three distinct chapters spread across June and July: AEROPONIC (June 17-21), developed in collaboration with the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem; Live Works (July 17-19), dedicated to emerging performance art; and LOVE (July 23-26), focusing on the Italian music, dance, and theatre scene. A journey that confirms Dro and Garda Trentino as one of the European capitals of performing arts research.
A unique context in Garda Trentino
Its location, a stone's throw from Lake Garda and the Brenta Dolomites, makes Drodesera an opportunity to discover a territory defined by nature, cycling paths along the Sarca, climbing, and charming villages. The radical art of the Centrale thus engages with an equally surprising landscape, in one of the most distinctive cultural experiences in Trentino-Alto Adige.
Drodesera — edition 2026
In 2026, Centrale Fies moves away from the compact ten-day format and stretches across three chapters between June and July, each with its own identity. An edition designed as a journey, accompanying the audience from international academic research to the most experimental Italian scene, always within the industrial spaces of the hydroelectric power plant in Località Fies, in Dro, Garda Trentino.
The first chapter, AEROPONIC, stems from the collaboration with the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem and offers an intensive programme of performances and reflection. This is followed by Live Works, the heart of the Centrale's international scouting, and finally LOVE, dedicated to Italian artists of the contemporary scene. The common thread remains the vocation of Centrale Fies: to make the power plant a place where performing arts question the present.
Programme Drodesera 2026
AEROPONIC — June 17-21, 2026
Inaugural chapter developed in collaboration with the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem. Five days with an intensive programme of 20 performances and 10 free public events — talks, performative actions, and moments of reflection. The title refers to aeroponics, soil-less cultivation, as a metaphor for artistic practices that are suspended and interconnected, nourished by exchanges and shared imaginaries.
Live Works — July 17-19, 2026
Support and scouting project for emerging performance art. Three days with eight performances selected from over 400 international applications, alongside internationally renowned guest artists. This is the event where the Centrale presents the new languages identified by the Live Works — Free School of Performance open call.
LOVE — July 23-26, 2026
Concluding chapter dedicated to the Italian scene of music, dance, and theatre, featuring established artists and new voices. Announced names include Francesca Pennini / CollettivO CineticO, Wissal Houbabi, Violetta Cottini, and Anagoor.
The full programme, with details on times and individual performances, is published progressively on the official website centralefies.it.
Highlights Drodesera 2026
Prices Drodesera 2026
Practical information — Drodesera
Location
Centrale Fies, Località Fies 1, 38074 Dro (Pietramurata area), Province of Trento, Garda Trentino.
How to get there
By car: From the A22 Brennero motorway, take the Rovereto Sud/Lago di Garda Nord exit, then head towards Riva del Garda and Dro along the Sarca Valley. By train: To Rovereto or Trento station, then take a local bus towards Dro. During the festival, a free shuttle service from the centre of Dro to the Centrale is often available; it is recommended due to limited parking.
Tickets
Admission and daily passes vary depending on the chapter and performances; some public events, talks, and AEROPONIC sessions are free. Up-to-date information on tickets and pre-sales is available on the official website centralefies.it.
Contacts
Tel. +39 0464 504700 — [email protected] — www.centralefies.it
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Where does it take place — Drodesera
Centrale Fies
Località Fies 1, 38074 Dro