Festival of Solidarity Europe and the Mediterranean

A festival born from an idea to bridge the shores of the Mediterranean

The Festival of Solidarity Europe and the Mediterranean was founded in 2017 by Abdullahi Ahmed, a young intercultural mediator of Somali origin who arrived in Italy as a refugee and settled in Settimo Torinese. The first edition was held in Piedmont, coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the anniversary of the Treaties of Rome. Since 2018, the festival has found its natural home on the island of Ventotene, in the Municipality of Ventotene in the province of Latina, Lazio: the symbolic place where Altiero Spinelli, while in confinement during the fascist regime, wrote the famous Ventotene Manifesto together with Ernesto Rossi, a foundational text for the idea of a united, federal Europe.

Who organizes it

The festival is promoted by the Turin-based association GenerAzione Ponte, born from the experience of ACMOS, with the support of the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and the patronage of the Municipality of Ventotene and the "Altiero Spinelli" Institute for Federalist Studies. In 2019, the project was awarded the Altiero Spinelli Prize by the European Commission, a recognition that solidified its civic value at a continental level.

A laboratory of European citizenship

The formula is unique in the Italian landscape: for a few days, the Pontine island transforms into a laboratory for dialogue between young Europeans, refugees, migrants, and second-generation citizens, guided by an intercultural staff. The program weaves together public conferences, workshops, book presentations, historical tours discovering the sites of confinement, and street art moments, with debates animated by journalists, scholars, and representatives of institutions and civil society. The goal is to bring the message of the Ventotene Manifesto into the present, telling the story of an open, welcoming, and solidary Europe, starting from the stories of those who have truly crossed the Mediterranean.

The 2026 edition: "Concrete Utopias"

The ninth edition took place from May 30 to June 2, 2026, with the theme "Concrete Utopias": exploring how political and social dreams can translate into real practices, in a year marked by the eightieth anniversary of the first free universal suffrage elections in Italy. The festival opened on May 30 in Turin with the roundtable "Italianness, Eighty Years of the Republic," and continued in Ventotene from May 31 to June 2 with conferences and workshops dedicated to youth political disillusionment, the role of women in social change, the impact of Big Tech and artificial intelligence on democracies, and major geopolitical scenarios, from the Ukrainian conflict to the Middle East.

Why attend

More than a traditional festival, it is a community experience: on the smallest and most remote island in Lazio, for a few days, one can breathe in a possible Europe, made of encounters between cultures, historical memory, and civic engagement. A precious appointment for those who want to understand today's Mediterranean in the very place where the Europe of tomorrow was imagined.