Crocevie - Literature and Beyond Festival

A festival that brings books to where the people are

Crocevie - Literature and Beyond Festival is a cultural event in San Salvo, a coastal town in the province of Chieti, Abruzzo, that has chosen a simple yet powerful concept: taking literature out of closed rooms and returning it to the people in evocative and truly accessible spaces. As the name suggests, Crocevie (Crossroads) is a meeting point—a junction of stories, voices, and ideas where culture becomes accessible to everyone.

The festival stems from a project by the Department of Culture of the Municipality of San Salvo, created by the Councilor for Culture Maria Travaglini in collaboration with the municipal Culture Office. The stated goal is to bring culture closer to people by choosing extraordinary settings where books become an opportunity for meeting and dialogue.

Beyond: not just books

The "and Beyond" in the title is no coincidence. Alongside book presentations and author meetings, Crocevie offers a program that gladly ventures into other arts: music, featuring concerts of ancient and medieval repertoire, and theater, with performances that engage with the literary themes of the festival. It is a multidisciplinary event where the written word intertwines with the voices of actors and the notes of musicians.

The locations: from the historic center to the beach

One of the most recognizable features of Crocevie is its choice of venues. In its first season, the festival animated city spaces such as the Porta della Terra and the Aldo Moro Cultural Center. With the summer edition, the festival moved to the San Salvo beach, in the Mare Senza Barriere area, an informal and inclusive setting where author meetings take place with the sea as a backdrop. This transition from indoor spaces to the sand perfectly captures the spirit of the festival: culture going to the people, not the other way around.

San Salvo and its cultural summer

Crocevie is part of the rich calendar of events in San Salvo, a town on the Trabocchi Coast that enlivens its summer days with events of all kinds, from music and theater to literary appointments. For locals and tourists visiting the Abruzzo coastline, the festival is an opportunity to combine a seaside vacation with a moment of discovery and reflection on authors and works, often linked to the Abruzzo and Molise regions.