International Festival of Journalism and Investigative Books (Sant'Agnello stop)

Investigative journalism tells its story at Belvedere Marinella

In Sant'Agnello, a small town in the Metropolitan City of Naples nestled between Sorrento and Piano di Sorrento, summer brings a festival that has little to do with light entertainment. The International Festival of Journalism and Investigative Books chooses the Belvedere Marinella, a panoramic terrace overlooking the Gulf of Naples, to host its Sant'Agnello evenings: meetings with journalists, magistrates, and essayists who present their books and discuss what lies behind the news with the public.

The formula is simple and intentionally essential: no monumental stage, no elaborate sets, just a table, a few chairs, the sound of the sea, and a dialogue that lasts as long as needed. It is a choice that has made the festival recognizable and explains why, year after year, the public continues to fill the viewpoint well before the start time.

A traveling festival on the Sorrento Peninsula

The festival is not tied to a single location: it moves along the Sorrento Peninsula, alternating its evenings between Villa Fondi in Piano di Sorrento, Villa Fiorentino in Sorrento, and the Belvedere Marinella in Sant'Agnello. This traveling nature has become the hallmark of the event, which connects three neighboring towns and transforms an entire stretch of coastline into a widespread cultural path throughout the summer.

For Sant'Agnello, the appointments are part of the municipal summer program rEstate Sintonizzati, promoted by the Municipality of Sant'Agnello: the festival thus fits, with a distinctly civil and journalistic profile, into a calendar that elsewhere prioritizes music, entertainment, and popular tradition.

Who is behind the festival

The event was conceived by journalist Vincenzo Iurillo, a writer for Il Fatto Quotidiano and artistic director of the festival, together with entrepreneur Marco Cocurullo, with the collaboration of journalist and writer Max Civili. The organization is entrusted to the cultural association that bears the festival's name, chaired by Domenico Rubio.

Over the years, some of the most recognizable names in Italian investigative journalism and political analysis have passed through the festival: television reporters, anti-mafia magistrates, geopolitics experts, former administrators, and essayists. Recurring themes are those most frequented by investigative journalism: mafias and drug trafficking, disinformation, justice and the Constitution, international conflicts, power, and public opinion.

What to expect from an evening

• Time: Starts at 8:30 PM, unless otherwise communicated by the organizers.
• Admission: Free and open to the public, subject to availability.
• Format: Book presentation, dialogue with a moderator journalist, and Q&A session with the audience.
• Setting: Outdoors, on a viewpoint overlooking the sea, with the light fading during the meeting.
• Broadcast: Some events are streamed on the association's social media channels.

Those who arrive early find seats more easily: the viewpoint has limited capacity, and on evenings with high-profile guests, standing room is the norm.

Sant'Agnello, between Sorrento and the Gulf

Sant'Agnello is one of the six towns on the Sorrento Peninsula, in Campania, and shares an urban continuity with Sorrento: on one side, citrus terraces; on the other, a cliffside front overlooking the sea, with viewpoints facing the Gulf of Naples and the silhouette of Mount Vesuvius. The Belvedere Marinella is one of these overlooks, reachable on foot from the center and connected to the beach of Marinella below.

The combination of the location and the content is part of the festival's charm: listening to an investigation into drug trafficking routes or an analysis of international conflicts with that panorama in front of you creates a contrast that participants often describe as the most memorable part of the evening.

A festival that engages with the territory

Beyond the names on the bill, the festival has taken on a precise role in the coastal cultural calendar over the years: offering, in the middle of the tourist season, an opportunity for in-depth analysis aimed at both residents and visitors. It is a proposal that coexists with the food festivals, concerts, and patron saint feasts of the Campanian summer, but deliberately chooses a different register, one of listening and discussion.