FIRE Festival – Investigative Journalism and Reportage Festival

An investigative journalism festival in the heart of Pigneto

The FIRE Festival — an acronym for Festival d'inchiesta e reportage giornalistico — is one of the most original events in the cultural summer of Rome, in the Lazio region. Founded in 2022 by the Centro di giornalismo permanente, a collective of journalists dedicated to investigative projects, the festival has made the Pigneto district its natural home from the start: first at the Giardino Angelo Galafati, and now at the Parco del Torrione Prenestino on Via Prenestina 73.

The underlying concept is both simple and ambitious: to take information out of digital echo chambers and restore its original purpose as a collective debate. Instead of the polarization found on social media, FIRE offers live encounters where those who conducted an investigation share their findings, data, limitations, and consequences directly with the public.

How the program is structured

The format is now well-established: every evening features two consecutive panels, held outdoors, with journalists, researchers, lawyers, activists, and direct witnesses. The recurring themes reflect the festival's identity:

• Migration and borders, with international investigations into exploitation and scams related to immigration decrees;
• Prisons and rights, from the 41-bis regime to the conditions of LGBTQIA+ individuals in penal institutions;
• Conflicts and geopolitics, with in-depth looks at Palestine, Ukraine, and repression in North Africa;
• Labor, housing, and the city, with a special focus on Rome's suburbs;
• The journalist's craft, including economic sustainability and alternative training schools.

In longer editions, the program has been enriched with free workshops — covering fact-checking, artificial intelligence in journalism, reporting in crisis zones, and feminist journalism — as well as photo exhibitions and multimedia displays hosted in local venues, starting with Sparwasser.

A neighborhood festival atmosphere

FIRE is not an academic conference. You listen while sitting on the grass or on plastic chairs, with a drink in hand and children playing nearby. The festival is designed as an accessible and welcoming space: vegan food area, pet-friendly zones, a play area for children, a plastic-free policy, and, in some editions, interpretation of evening panels into Italian Sign Language.

The event is part of the Estate al Torrione program, a summer schedule created by the Arci clubs of Pigneto (Nonna Roma, Trenta Formiche, Sparwasser) that reclaimed a public park in the eastern suburbs from neglect. The result is a rare intersection of professional journalism and neighborhood life, where the audience is not just made up of industry insiders.

Why it's worth attending

For those visiting Rome in the summer, FIRE is an opportunity to see a city different from the usual tourist circuits: the Pigneto of long evenings, murals, and local bars on Via del Pigneto, just a stone's throw from Termini station yet worlds away from the postcards. For those living in Lazio, it is a fixed appointment to understand what lies behind the news that scrolls across our screens every day.

Admission is always free, with no reservations required: just arrive in time if you want a good seat for the most anticipated panels.