Crinali — San Benedetto Val di Sambro

A festival experienced by walking

Crinali is a widespread festival that for almost a decade has transformed the Bolognese Apennines into a large open-air stage. The idea is simple and fascinating: to reach the show, you don't enter a theatre, but walk along the paths of the Emilian mountains, until you discover a concert in a chestnut grove, a theatrical piece in a village square, or a performance next to an archaeological park. The 2026 edition, scheduled from May 27th to October 17th, involves fourteen municipalities in the Bolognese Apennines with over sixty shows, including more than thirty concerts.

Crinali in San Benedetto Val di Sambro

The Municipality of San Benedetto Val di Sambro, in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, is one of the festival's stops. Its territory stretches between the valleys of the Setta, Lambro, and Savena rivers, in a landscape of ridges, chestnut groves, and ancient stone villages like Qualto, Zaccanesca, and Ripoli. It is precisely this geography made of paths and nature that makes the Municipality an ideal place for Crinali's formula, which combines hiking, landscape, and live performance.

Four events featuring theatre, music, and walking

• Theatre with the show "Saudade", which blends theatre, dance, music, and oral tradition.
• Guided walks to the symbolic places of the area, from the archaeological excavations of Pian di Balestra to the route of the Via degli Dei.
• Concerts in the villages and hamlets, particularly at the church of Cedrecchia.
• Family shows, with puppet theatre in the chestnut groves of the hamlet of Qualto.

How Crinali is organized

The festival is promoted by the Union of Municipalities of the Bolognese Apennines and is part of the Bologna Estate programme. The artistic direction is entrusted to Claudio Carboni and Carlo Maver, with the coordination of Francesca Marchi. The events are grouped into five thematic paths — Crinali History, Crinali Nature, Crinali Sport, Cinne e Cinni (dedicated to families with children), and Crinali Villages and Squares — designed to accompany the public on walks of varying difficulty, from easy strolls suitable for everyone to full-day sporting itineraries.

An experience between nature and culture

More than just a programme of concerts, Crinali is an invitation to rediscover the Emilian Apennines slowly: you start on foot, cross woods and ridges, and the show arrives almost as a surprise at the end of the path. In San Benedetto Val di Sambro, this philosophy meets a heritage of medieval villages, ancient routes like the Via degli Dei, and archaeological sites that tell a thousand-year history of the territory.