Horcynus Festival

A festival suspended between two seas

The Horcynus Festival is the major summer cultural event in Messina, Sicily, hosted in the evocative Horcynus Orca Park in Capo Peloro. Located at the island's northeastern tip, in the district of Torre Faro, it is the point where the Strait separates Sicily from Calabria. The name pays homage to Horcynus Orca, the famous novel by Stefano D'Arrigo set in these very waters, inheriting its poetic gaze on the sea and its people.

A multidisciplinary and Mediterranean festival

Born in the early 2000s, the festival has established itself as one of the most original cultural events in Southern Italy, defining itself as a multidisciplinary festival on Mediterranean aesthetics. The program weaves together numerous expressive forms:

• Cinema, with screenings dedicated to Mediterranean perspectives and international selections, including the "La Nueva Ola" section on Spanish and Latin American cinema;
• Music, with concerts ranging from jazz to electronic and world music;
• Theatre and performing arts;
• Visual arts and design, featuring workshops and project weeks;
• Mediterranean cultures, meetings and reflections on Euro-Mediterranean social economy networks;
• Educational workshops for children and teenagers, covering themes from storytelling to creativity.

Culture and social commitment

The Horcynus Festival is promoted by the Horcynus Orca Foundation together with the Community Foundation of Messina and is linked to the human and territorial development strategies of the Messina area. More than just a showcase for performances, it is a laboratory that brings artistic research, social innovation, and attention to the suburbs into dialogue, articulated in sections dedicated to cultural experimentation, the dissemination of new development practices, and youth training.

Free admission overlooking the Strait

Traditionally with free admission, the festival takes place in the heart of summer, between July and August, in a unique landscape: the strip of land at Capo Peloro, between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, with the Ganzirri lakes and the lighthouse overlooking Calabria. In addition to the main venue in the Municipality of Messina, some initiatives also involve other locations in the area, such as Novara di Sicilia, in a design that enhances the entire Peloritani region.