Emma Perodi Festival

A festival born in Emma Perodi's hometown

The Emma Perodi Festival is a literary and cultural event that the Municipality of Cerreto Guidi, in the province of Florence and the heart of Tuscany, dedicates to the writer and journalist born right here in 1850. Living at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Emma Perodi is best remembered for Le novelle della nonna, a collection of fairy tales and legends set in the Casentino Forests that established her as one of the most original voices in children's literature of her time. The festival, which offers free admission, brings her figure back to the centre of the village's cultural life.

The venues: Library and MuMeLoc

The event takes place across two iconic local landmarks: the Emma Perodi Municipal Library, on Via Vittorio Veneto, and the MuMeLoc (Museum of Local Memory) overlooking Piazza Dante Desideri. These spaces host book presentations, children's workshops, dramatic readings, exhibitions, and performances, creating a continuous dialogue between the intimate act of reading and the collective life of the town square.

A programme for all ages

The schedule alternates between events for adults and activities dedicated to younger audiences:

• Literary presentations and meetings with authors, scholars, and illustrators;
• Creative writing and illustration workshops for children and teenagers;
• Theatrical performances and dramatic readings, often accompanied by music;
• Exhibitions and an outdoor painting competition named after Claudio Caioli;
• The awarding of the Emma Perodi Prize, a recognition for figures in the world of writing.

The link with the Literary Park

The festival is part of the Emma Perodi and Casentino Forests Literary Park, which brings together the municipalities of the Casentino region linked to the landscapes of her stories. In Cerreto Guidi, a Medici village dominated by the Villa of Cerreto Guidi (a residence commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici and now a museum), the festival weaves together literary memory, local identity, and heritage promotion.

A free event to discover

Organised by the Cerreto Guidi municipal administration together with the I Girasogni association and local cultural entities, the Emma Perodi Festival is an opportunity to discover a village in the Florentine Tuscany far from the main tourist flows, while rediscovering a writer who knew how to tell the magic of folk tales. All initiatives are free to attend.