Cross Cities Summer

An international research festival in the heart of Sannio

Cross Cities Summer is the summer session of the Cross Cities project, an international platform dedicated to contemporary practices in art, music, performance, and audiovisual research. For three evenings in July, the event transforms the town of Sant'Agata de' Goti, in the Province of Benevento, into a meeting point for Italian and international artists working at the intersection of sound, image, and the body. The festival is promoted by the BLu'S APS association under the artistic direction of Maurizio Chiantone and takes place within the Cantine Storiche Mustilli, located in the town's historic center.

This is not a traditional concert series: Cross Cities was born as a project of cross-pollination between cities, artistic languages, and generations, and its summer version maintains this approach. Each evening features a succession of short interventions, often specifically designed for the venue, allowing the audience to move seamlessly from listening to an electroacoustic work to watching a dance performance or visiting an installation.

'Resist. Listen. Act.': the theme of the 2026 edition

The 2026 edition, scheduled from July 24 to 26, 2026, is built around the theme 'Resist. Listen. Act.', accompanied by the 'Dialogues of Activism' meeting cycle. The common thread is the role of artistic practice as a tool for awareness, connection, and social transformation: more than just an exhibition of works, it is an invitation to reflect on the relationship between art, community, and change. It is the natural continuation of the path started in 2025 with 'Resistance: Time for Peace'.

What to see and hear

The program spans multiple disciplines, with no hierarchy between music, visual arts, and performance:

• experimental music and sound art, with site-specific concerts designed for the cellar environments;
• audiovisual performances and screenings of video works by international authors;
• dance and experimental theater, featuring a Butoh dance masterclass led by Marie-Thérèse Sitzia;
• immersive and permanent installations, open for viewing throughout the evenings;
• artificial intelligence applied to creative processes, one of the platform's most recent research areas.

The format highlights both emerging artists and established names in the research scene: the 2025 edition involved about seventy artists with around forty performance and audiovisual contributions spread over three nights.

The Cantine Storiche Mustilli, a venue that is already a stage

The choice of venue is no coincidence. The Mustilli family cellars are located in the historic palace in the center of Sant'Agata de' Goti, with spaces carved below street level: vaults, corridors, and the internal courtyard offer unique acoustics and ideal surfaces for projections and installations. The audience moves through a path that is half-visit and half-performance, where the winemaking heritage of Sannio and the latest artistic research coexist in the same space.

Sant'Agata de' Goti and the Sannio region

Sant'Agata de' Goti is one of the most recognizable villages in inland Campania: the ancient center stretches along a tuff spur bordered by two ravines, with its cathedral, ducal castle, and alleys overlooking the valley. Surrounding it is the Sannio countryside, a land of wines like Falanghina and Aglianico and small agricultural towns. Hosting an international contemporary art festival in such a context is part of the project itself: bringing research languages out of major urban centers and returning them to a territory that does not usually encounter them.

Who it is for

Cross Cities Summer speaks primarily to those curious about contemporary music, video art, and performance, but the intimate format and the village setting make it accessible even to a non-specialist audience. The summer evenings, starting after sunset, are perfect for combining with a walk through the historic center and dinner at local trattorias.