CRITA - Festival of the Arts

The arts festival born in Cutrofiano

CRITA - Arts Festival is a traveling event dedicated to theatre, music, and dance, conceived, organized, and produced by the Ventinovenove cooperative, based right in Cutrofiano, in the province of Lecce. The artistic direction is led by Gabriele Polimeno, Mary Negro, and Giuseppe Bortone. Every summer, the festival travels through five municipalities in the Salento area of Lecce—Cutrofiano, Bagnolo del Salento, Collepasso, Galatone, and Maglie—transforming squares, historic palaces, theatres, and cultural spaces into meeting places between national artists and local inland communities.

Cutrofiano, the heart of the event

Cutrofiano, a town of about nine thousand inhabitants in lower Salento, is the city where the festival originated and is often the venue for the opening night. Performances are mostly held in Piazza Municipio, which on summer evenings turns into an open-air theatre for drama, comedy, storytelling, and live music. As Cutrofiano is the headquarters of the Ventinovenove cooperative, the town serves as the starting point for an itinerary that then touches the other four partner municipalities, creating a widespread cultural network that brings contemporary theatre to even the smallest towns in southern Puglia.

The name: clay and water

The festival takes its name from creta (clay), the symbolic material of Cutrofiano and its ancient ceramic tradition: the 'city of clay' boasts centuries of history linked to clay working and its kilns. And without water, clay remains dust. The themes of the various editions revolve around this image, interpreting culture as a flow capable of crossing and regenerating communities. The 2026 9th edition is dedicated to 'Flowing Water': water as a fragile and powerful element, capable of crossing places, changing landscapes, and uniting communities, just like a festival that travels from town to town.

A network supported by the region

CRITA is the summer programme of an annual project funded by POC Puglia 2021-2027 funds and carried out in partnership with the Municipalities of Cutrofiano, Bagnolo del Salento, Collepasso, Galatone, and Maglie, with the support of Legacoop Puglia and numerous local cultural entities. The festival weaves together big names from the Italian theatre and music scene with deep roots in Salento, offering the public an opportunity to discover the villages of the Lecce hinterland through live performance.

Atmosphere

CRITA evenings in Cutrofiano take place outdoors, with an intimate and participatory format: the public is invited to follow the festival by moving from one municipality to another, in an itinerary that combines art, conviviality, and exploration of the territory. Admission is generally free with a voluntary donation, and booking is often recommended.