Festival dell'Arte sul Mare

An open-air museum on the South Pier

The Festival dell'Arte sul Mare is one of the longest-running and most iconic cultural events in San Benedetto del Tronto, in the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche region. Since 1996, every summer the South Pier of the port becomes an open-air workshop: sculptors work on stone blocks live, in front of the public, and the finished works remain in the city, enriching the Museum of Art on the Sea (MAM), a permanent collection of sculptures that dialogues with the Adriatic landscape and has received the Patronage of the European Parliament.

The thirtieth-anniversary edition

In 2026, the festival celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with its thirtieth edition. The event begins on June 4th and is divided into several sections: Live Sculpture and Live Painting at the MAM on the South Pier, and the cycle of Exhibitions & Conferences at the Palazzina Azzurra, the historic Art Nouveau pavilion on the seafront. For this occasion, and for the first time in the event's history, artists are sculpting blocks of Majella limestone worked in the round, rather than the usual bas-reliefs: the completed works will then be permanently placed in different neighborhoods of the city.

The artists

For the thirtieth anniversary, six sculptors have been invited, chosen from the protagonists of past editions: Italians Franco Daga, Valentino Giampaoli, and Claudia Zanaga, Germans Susanne Paucker and Norbert Jäger, and the artist from San Benedetto, Giuseppe Straccia. The Live Painting section features Fabrizio Mariani and Piernicola Cocchiaro. At the Palazzina Azzurra, the group exhibition «Trenta» is set up, bringing together 28 works by 14 artists who have marked the festival's history.

Music and evenings on the pier

Alongside sculpture, the festival offers traditional free music evenings on the South Pier. On June 6th, the Percorsi Obliqui Quartet opens with a jazz concert, while on June 13th, the same quartet returns to the stage accompanied by Californian guitarist Doctor Vic, in an encounter between jazz and rock. Evening events start at 9:30 PM and admission is free.

An iconic event of the Riviera delle Palme

The Arte sul Mare formula is unique: visitors don't just observe finished works, but witness the creative act, the sound of pneumatic chisels, and stone taking shape just a few steps from the sea. For the city of San Benedetto del Tronto, the capital of the Riviera delle Palme, the festival has become over the years a symbol of the link between culture, the sea, and the community, and an anticipated stop on the Marche summer calendar.