Festival Isabella Morra

Poetry returns home

The Festival Isabella Morra is a poetic project that links Basilicata and Puglia in the name of the Renaissance poet Isabella Morra, who was born and died very young in the castle of Valsinni (Province of Matera). Conceived and curated by the poet Barbara Gortan, the festival was born with a suggestive idea: to transform the castle into a true residence for contemporary poetry.

Isabella's places

The heart of the project is the poetic residence "I luoghi di Isabella" (Isabella's places): poets are invited to stay within the walls of the castle that witnessed the birth of the "sublime poetess's" genius and to draw inspiration from it for a contemporary composition or tribute. Each poem created becomes part of the festival's official archive and is read during the event days, in a living collective memory that continues to generate beauty.

Between Valsinni and Taranto

The festival takes place between the Castle of Valsinni and Taranto, intertwining the two territories that inspire the project. Amidst stone, history, and silence, poetry finds its home, in a dialogue between Isabella's 16th century and contemporary voices.

A tragic and modern figure

Isabella Morra, who lived in the 16th century, was killed at just twenty-five years old due to a relationship (epistolary) opposed by her family: her story and her verses make her one of the most intense and modern voices in Italian poetry. Valsinni dedicates an entire literary park to her and, with this festival, a new chapter of life.