Festival Storie

A festival that stitches together the villages of the Marche

Festival Storie is a travelling cultural review that intertwines music, theatre, and narration through the villages of the Marche hinterland. Conceived and organised by the association Progetto Musical, with the artistic direction of Saverio Marconi and Manu Latini, the festival was born as a cultural response to the 2016 earthquake: a concrete way to reopen closed theatres, bring audiences back to the squares, and restore identity to the towns affected by the earthquake. In its fifth edition, the review networked 13 villages across three provinces (Fermo, Macerata, and Ascoli Piceno), with a programme of 26 evenings spread over seven months.

Santa Vittoria in Matenano and the Teatro del Leone

Among the towns in the network, Santa Vittoria in Matenano holds a special place. It is here, in the historic Teatro del Leone — a small 19th-century gem inaugurated in 1815 and reopened in September 2025 after the facade restoration — that the festival has its operatic heart. The village, ancient capital of the Farfa monks overlooking the Aso valley, thus rediscovers its cultural vocation: the mayor, Fabrizio Vergari, a passionate opera lover, strongly desired that the festival's grand finale, dedicated to great Italian opera, should be held in Santa Vittoria.

What to expect

• Concerts of classical music and soundtracks from great Italian cinema
• The closing opera recital, featuring young Marche voices of national and international calibre
• Theatrical performances, conferences, and talks on history, sports, and cinema
• Original musical productions designed for the small theatres of the villages

A journey into the culture of the Fermano area

Attending an evening of Festival Storie in Santa Vittoria in Matenano means much more than listening to good music: it means entering a historic theatre brought back to life, in a village in the Fermano hinterland that uses culture as a tool for rebirth. The review alternates free events with paid evenings at a low cost, in a friendly and participatory atmosphere that attracts spectators from all over the Marche and beyond. One of the most authentic experiences to discover the soul of the small villages of the Marche.