Comics and Contemporary Creativity Festival

A Sabina village drawing its own future

Mompeo is a town of just a few hundred inhabitants perched on the hills of Sabina, in the province of Rieti, in the heart of inland Lazio. For a few years now, this quiet village has undergone a metamorphosis every summer: for four days between late July and early August, its squares, alleys, and especially the halls of Castello Orsini Naro fill with original plates, easels, projections, and the voices of artists. This is the Comics and Contemporary Creativity Festival, established in 2023 and artistically directed by Teatro Potlach, a historic theatrical research company active in the Sabina region.

Why Mompeo?

The choice is no coincidence. Franco Caprioli was born in Mompeo in 1912. One of the masters of 20th-century Italian comics, he was famous for his poetic depiction of the sea and an unmistakable style that earned him the nickname "illustrator of the great horizons." The festival is dedicated to him, and the 2025 edition saw the inauguration of a permanent Franco Caprioli Museum inside the restored castle. The event is part of the MoMAc project, a three-year cultural regeneration plan for the village funded by the Ministry of Culture and the European Union as part of NextGenerationEU.

The program structure

The festival's daily schedule follows a well-established rhythm designed for families and enthusiasts:

• Mornings are dedicated to comics workshops, which are free and divided by age group: labs for children and teenagers (roughly 8-14 years old) and courses for adults led by industry professionals.
• From 4:00 PM, the contemporary creativity ateliers open in the halls of Castello Orsini Naro, where visitors can wander freely among installations, drawing stations, and works in progress.
• At 5:00 PM, visitors can explore the collective exhibition Comics and Illustrations by Contemporary Authors, featuring original plates by Italian and European artists.
• In the late afternoon, there are talks with guests and live signing/sketching sessions.
• At 9:30 PM, it is time for the evening show in Piazza Regillo, the emotional heart of the day.

Teatro Potlach's performances

The company's signature is most evident in the evenings. In recent editions, the audience has enjoyed Franco Caprioli: The Poet of the Sea, a multidisciplinary show about the life and works of the Mompeo-born artist; the vertical dance performance Wanted 2.0 – The Vertical Action Show; and above all, HYBRID, the grand closing event: an artistic journey through the entire historic center featuring lights, projections, musicians, dancers, and visual installations, where the village itself becomes the stage. Workshop participants see their own work displayed here, in a collective restitution that is perhaps the most authentic hallmark of the event.

Guests and the world of comics

The festival does not aim for the massive crowds of pop fairs, but rather for closeness between the public and the authors. Past guests have included illustrators linked to the Disney universe and Geronimo Stilton Magazine, European-school comic artists, children's book authors, and directors. Meetings take place in intimate, often outdoor spaces, allowing for a direct dialogue that is unthinkable at larger events.

Free admission and the spirit of the festival

All events at the Comics and Contemporary Creativity Festival are completely free and open to the public, including workshops, although booking is recommended for the labs due to the limited capacity of the castle halls. This is a choice consistent with the project's nature: bringing contemporary culture to a village in the inland areas of Lazio and restoring its centrality to combat depopulation. Those arriving in Mompeo during these days will find a lively town, with residents and visitors mixing among the exhibitions, and can take the opportunity to discover the Sabina region, the Farfa Gorges, and its olive oil production.

The Sabina context

We are just over an hour from Rome, in one of the least-traveled areas of Lazio. Sabina is a land of PDO extra virgin olive oil, abbeys, and medieval villages overlooking the Tiber Valley. A comics festival in this setting might seem like an oxymoron; instead, it is precisely the contrast between the 16th-century walls of Castello Orsini Naro and the plates of sequential art that makes the experience memorable.