Crack! Disruptive Comics
The international festival of drawn and printed art at Forte Prenestino, Rome
About Crack! Festival
A disruptive festival in the heart of Centocelle
Crack! Disruptive Comics has been the Roman hub since 2005 for underground comics and all drawn and printed art created outside major publishing circuits. Its home is the C.S.O.A. Forte Prenestino, a late 19th-century military fortification in the Centocelle district of Rome, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio. The Piazza d'Armi, the Auditorium, the Teatro Forte, the Cattedrale, and the long underground tunnels transform for four days into a single organism made of self-production tables, exhibitions, printing presses, and loudspeakers.
Self-produced and self-convened
The formula is not that of a commercial fair. Crack! defines itself as self-produced and self-convened: participation is based on an open call, bringing together over five hundred projects from across Europe and beyond each year, with the non-negotiable rule that they must be independent publishers, collectives, and individual authors only. Cooperation, open-source culture, and the rejection of copyright as a barrier are the backbone of the project, curated by Fortepressa and the La Bagarre association together with the residents of the fort.
What you will find at the festival
- The self-production market: hundreds of stalls featuring comics, fanzines, graphic novels, posters, prints, and small editions, distributed throughout the tunnels and underground spaces.
- Exhibitions and installations: solo and collective shows that interpret the chosen theme each year, featuring invited international artists.
- The screen printing workshop, open permanently before and during the festival: anyone can print, share screens, inks, and techniques.
- Meet-ups and presentations, such as the Futures of Comics Sessions, including readings, live painting, and debates on the future of independent comics.
- Live music and DJ sets until late at night, with a selection ranging from experimental electronics to rap, dub, and Tanzanian singeli.
A different theme every year
Each edition is built around a keyword that guides exhibitions, graphics, and discussions. Recent years have seen FLESH in 2025, a reflection on bodies and the hierarchies that decide who has the right to represent themselves, and HAPPINESS in 2026, a critical look at happiness transformed into a commodity, metric, and control device. The theme is not a decorative frame: it is the thread that holds together posters, fanzines, and installations.
Atmosphere and audience
Those who arrive at Crack! find a young and diverse crowd, artists mingling with readers, and a constant flow between the cool underground galleries and the warmth of the Piazza d'Armi. Evenings begin in the late afternoon and continue until the early hours of the morning on weekends. It is not a polished event: it is a collective workshop where people print, discuss, play music, and eat together, with kitchens and stalls managed directly by the social center.
Why it's worth the trip
In the Italian comics festival landscape, Crack! occupies a unique space. There is no big industry, no blockbuster previews: there is the editorial scene that truly experiments, the one that produces the languages in Rome and Europe that eventually reach elsewhere. For those who love auteur comics, artisanal printing, and underground cultures, it is one of the most intense and free events that Lazio has to offer.
Crack! Festival — edition 2026
Crack! HAPPINESS — 21st edition
In 2026, Crack! turned twenty-one and chose happiness as its theme, questioning it as a symbol, a global currency, and a tool of emotional conformity, with an invitation to reclaim a broader vocabulary made also of joy, melancholy, and empathy. The underground spaces of the fort hosted, as always, hundreds of self-production stalls, open Thursday from 7:00 PM to midnight, Friday and Saturday from 4:00 PM to midnight, and Sunday from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
The FAIDA exhibition, dedicated to the universe of self-produced comics, remained open in the Auditorium from Friday to Sunday, while the Futures of Comics Sessions filled the afternoons with readings, presentations, and live painting. The screen printing workshop worked continuously throughout the festival, and the French company Klein crossed the Piazza d'Armi with KaBOUM, a traveling micro-performance with a smoke cannon and a participatory ritual of dream sharing. Radio Onda Rossa broadcast live from the festival.
Programme Crack! Festival 2026
Thursday, June 25
- Piazza d'Armi: Cruz Luma (8:00 PM), SALVE (9:00 PM), Una Snoup (10:00 PM), Mish Mish (11:00 PM), Stupid Potter DJ set (12:00 AM)
- Auditorium: Nario Bros (7:30 PM), Poli & Chiara (9:30 PM), Belladonna live acid-tekno (11:30 PM)
- Teatro Forte: Open workshop from 7:30 PM and Solo la Fine, performance by Laboratorio Rischio Forte (8:30 PM)
Friday, June 26
- Piazza d'Armi: DJ Secretaire (8:30 PM), Toolsy / Christophe Brunel and Camily (9:30 PM), Hassan K. (10:30 PM), DJ Travella from the Tanzanian singeli scene (12:00 AM), Mr.3P & Miss Loony (1:30 AM)
- Auditorium: Sharaball (6:00 PM), PBJ Crew (11:00 PM), Sguido Colombo (12:30 AM), Nicho Line (2:00 AM)
- Auditorium: Futures of Comics Sessions from 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM, with Simone Capozzi, Sara Federico, Fibroma, and others
- Teatro Forte: Zine Festival: The Role Playing Game, participatory workshop (6:00 PM)
- Cattedrale: Sine_Lupo, performance and installation (1:00 AM)
Saturday, June 27
- Piazza d'Armi: DJ Secretaire (7:30 PM), Sandroken (9:00 PM), Luca Dub (9:30 PM), Annarella (10:00 PM), Piaga (10:30 PM), Ellie Cottino with DJ Sista Sofy (11:00 PM), Jay Mitta & Anti Vairas from Dar es Salaam (12:30 AM), Roberta Strada (1:30 AM)
- Auditorium: Laszlo (6:00 PM), Gentile Paoloni (10:00 PM), Gajeb / Orque / In-Oo-Hou (11:00 PM), Ceciliette (12:00 AM), DJ ORZ (1:30 AM)
- Auditorium: Futures of Comics Sessions from 6:00 PM to 9:20 PM, with Antoniomalatesta, Thunder Pork, Tab Ula, Rakel Stammer, and others; FAIDA exhibition always visitable
Sunday, June 28
- Piazza d'Armi: Cool Runnings Sound with Mario Dread, 2Rud, and Mercy Far I (4:00 PM), Fiera della Fine, shadow theater with electronic soundscapes (9:00 PM)
- Auditorium: Yva (4:00 PM), then Paolo Martorelli and Lime & Ginger
Every day
- Tunnels and underground spaces with self-productions: Thursday 7:00 PM-12:00 AM, Friday and Saturday 4:00 PM-12:00 AM, Sunday 4:00 PM-10:00 PM
- Screen printing workshop always active, curated by Forte Prenestino with Jean Guichon éditeur and David VanderH / La Gilda
- KaBOUM by Compagnie Klein, traveling performance in Piazza d'Armi
- Live broadcasts and interviews by Radio Onda Rossa
Highlights Crack! Festival 2026
- HAPPINESS theme: happiness as a commodity, metric, and control device
- Twenty-one years of self-produced and self-convened festival
- FAIDA exhibition on the universe of self-produced comics, from Friday to Sunday in the Auditorium
- Futures of Comics Sessions, including readings, presentations, and live painting
- DJ Travella and Jay Mitta & Anti Vairas, two appointments with Dar es Salaam singeli
- KaBOUM by Compagnie Klein, participatory ritual of dream sharing
- Screen printing workshop open permanently, without copyright restrictions
- Collection of graphic contributions for Scarceranda 2026, an agenda against all prisons
Prices Crack! Festival 2026
Practical information — Crack! Festival
Location
C.S.O.A. Forte Prenestino, via Federico Delpino 187, Centocelle district, Rome (Postal Code 00171).
How to get there
Metro: Line C, Mirti or Gardenie stop, then a few minutes' walk. Tram: Lines 5 and 19 towards Centocelle (Piazza dei Gerani terminus). Car: The district is very dense and parking is difficult during festival nights; public transport is recommended. Train and plane: From Roma Termini, take Metro A to San Giovanni and switch to Line C; from Fiumicino and Ciampino airports, use the connections to Termini.
Opening hours
In recent editions, the festival opens on Thursday evening and continues until Sunday: Thursday from 7:00 PM to midnight, Friday and Saturday from the afternoon until 2:00 AM, and Sunday from the afternoon until 10:00 PM.
Admission
The festival is self-produced in a self-managed space, and the official program does not publish a price list: it is advisable to check access methods and any requested contribution on official channels before leaving.
Tips
The underground tunnels are cool even in mid-summer; a light sweatshirt is useful. Bring cash: many self-production stalls do not accept electronic payments.
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Where does it take place — Crack! Festival
C.S.O.A. Forte Prenestino
Via Federico Delpino 187, 00171 Roma