"Con gli Occhi Aperti" School Theatre Festival

A festival born within the school

The "Con gli Occhi Aperti" School Theatre Festival is the project through which Bottega degli Apocrifi brings theatre into the communities of the southern Gargano. Established in 2008 and interrupted only during the pandemic, the festival involves four municipalities in the Manfredonia district every spring: Manfredonia, Mattinata, Monte Sant'Angelo, and Zapponeta, in the province of Foggia, in the heart of the Gargano Puglia. Its core is not the showcase of performances, but the workshops: spaces for listening where young people share a theatrical experience together with artists.

Mattinata and widespread theatre

In Mattinata, the festival thrives on urban workshop practices and performances hosted in city spaces and local schools. The Widespread Theatre (Teatro Diffuso) practice, aimed at teenagers between 11 and 19 years old, crosses Mattinata and Monte Sant'Angelo, transforming streets and everyday places into a stage. Among the guest companies that have also visited Mattinata, Kuziba Teatro from Ruvo di Puglia brings the smallest Italian-style puppet theatre in the world, while the Factory Compagnia Transadriatica from Lecce offers storytelling performances dedicated to travel.

A choral program

Each edition alternates workshop paths built with local comprehensive schools with performances by professional companies from all over Italy: from Circolo Bergman in Milan to Teatro Telaio in Bergamo, from Lino's Street Circus to productions by Bottega degli Apocrifi itself. The musical heart of the festival is RAPsodia, with the Orchestra Sociale dei Felici Pochi, which brings together young musicians aged 7 to 23 along with the ICO "Suoni del Sud" Orchestra and the "Umberto Giordano" Conservatory of Foggia.

A community educational project

"Con gli Occhi Aperti" is much more than a review: it is a pact between theatre and school. Co-design days, such as the Class Assembly at SpazioApocrifi, involve teachers, school principals, and municipal administrators to imagine a shared plan together. The festival is conceived and directed by Cosimo Severo and produced by Bottega degli Apocrifi with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Puglia Region, and partner municipalities, in collaboration with Casa dello Spettatore of Rome.

Why experience it

• A month of workshops, performances, concerts, and meetings spread across four municipalities of the Gargano.
• Professional companies from all over Italy alongside the work of school students.
• A recognized theatre-education model, one of the longest-running in the Capitanata area.