Generational Harmonies - Eugenio Martone Award

Four days of culture in Piazza del Tempo

Generational Harmonies - The Power of Culture is the festival that, in June 2026, launched the outdoor event season in Santa Maria la Carità, a town of approximately 12,000 residents in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania. Four days of music, shows, and entertainment built around a simple concept: culture as a tool to bring different generations together, from children to the elderly, in a shared space.

The event is promoted by the Municipality of Santa Maria la Carità with the support of the Metropolitan City of Naples and is part of the 2025/2026 Metropolitan Events Calendar. Artistic and cultural direction is entrusted to the Centro Studi Mousikè ETS, an association that has been dedicated to promoting music and education in the Stabia area for over thirty years.

The Eugenio Martone Award, the heart of the festival

The event that defines the entire program is the Eugenio Martone Award, which reached its second edition in 2026. The award is dedicated to the memory of a young guitarist who passed away prematurely and is aimed at young guitar talents: a way to transform remembrance into a concrete opportunity for growth for students of music.

The evening is not just an award ceremony, but a true concert. The stage features:

• the Symphonic Orchestra of the «Francesco Severi» Musical High School of Castellammare di Stabia, conducted by Professor Alfredo Intagliato;
• the band «Amici di Eugenio», formed by musicians connected to the memory of the young guitarist.

Piazza del Tempo, the new local stage

Generational Harmonies also serves as the first major test for Piazza del Tempo, inaugurated on June 4, 2026. The space is designed as a symbolic site: six gateways — the Gateway of Freedom, the Gateway of Memory, the Gateway of Tomorrow, the Gateway of Identity, the Vesuvius Gateway, and the Gateway of Peace — each tell a story about local history and identity.

The square can accommodate approximately 750 seated guests and up to 1,500 standing, and features an underground parking lot with about 100 spaces. During the inauguration, a time capsule was placed there, containing the thoughts and wishes of the town's children, to be opened in 2051. A detail that perfectly aligns with the festival's title and its theme: the dialogue between generations.

A program for all ages

The schedule alternates between different styles to reach diverse audiences over a few days:

• Music and memory with the Eugenio Martone Award evening, featuring a youth symphony orchestra and local amateur groups;
• Families and children with «Magic and Adventure – A World for Children», an afternoon where the square transforms into an immersive space populated by fairy-tale characters, mascots, photo areas, and themed stations;
• Pop music and comedy with «Steps of Happiness», the closing evening featuring the band I Soliti Sospetti and a cabaret recital by comedian Simone Schettino, a beloved figure in the Naples area.

Free admission and community spirit

All events are free of charge and take place outdoors, with no reservation required. This is a deliberate choice by the administration led by Mayor Giosuè D'Amora: to make the new square a place for daily gathering rather than just urban decoration.

Santa Maria la Carità, between Pompeii and the Lattari Mountains

Santa Maria la Carità is located in the Stabia plain, on the edge of the Agro Nocerino-Sarnese, just a few kilometers from Pompeii, Castellammare di Stabia, and Gragnano, the city of pasta. It is one of the youngest municipalities in Campania: it became autonomous in 1978, separating from Gragnano. The fertile territory, with its ancient agricultural tradition, preserves traces of Roman rustic villas from the Republican and Imperial ages, linked to the production of wine, grain, and oil in the Vesuvius area.

For those visiting the Pompeii excavations or heading toward the Sorrento Peninsula, an evening here is an opportunity to see the cultural life of a Neapolitan town up close, away from the most beaten tourist paths.