La Bella Stagione - Performing Arts Festival

Theatre as a community ritual on Mount Amiata

La Bella Stagione is the performing arts festival of Piancastagnaio, a village on the Sienese side of Mount Amiata, in the province of Siena and the heart of Tuscany. Established in 2025, the festival is dedicated to the memory of Dante Cappelletti—a teacher, researcher, writer, screenwriter, and theatre critic originally from Piancastagnaio and a prominent figure in the history of Italian experimental theatre. The 2026 edition marks the thirtieth anniversary of his passing.

A festival spread across the hamlets

The hallmark of La Bella Stagione is its choice to bring culture outside of conventional spaces. Promoted by the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Piancastagnaio, the festival was born from a clear vision of community: recognizing the hamlets as central to the social life of the territory. Thus, parks, sports fields, village streets, churches, and natural springs become stages, restoring the dimension of encounter, proximity, and shared memory to the performances.

Artistic direction

The artistic direction is entrusted to Valeria Pinzi, who builds a program capable of interweaving different languages along two paths: on one hand, contemporary monologues that explore human fragility and introspection; on the other, ancestral elements such as fire and song, which evoke the collective and ritualistic dimension of performance. The festival's graphic identity is curated by Michele Scalacci, with imagery evoking the nostalgia of childhood summers.

The 2026 program

The second edition takes place from July 10 to 24, 2026, with four events distributed throughout the local hamlets:

• July 10 - Tre Case (Parco del Crocefisso), 9:30 PM: Claudio Morici in La malattia dell'ostrica, monologue;
• July 12 - Saragiolo (Sports Field), 9:30 PM: the Crème Brulè company with Danza, Fuoco & Romanticherie, a street theatre show;
• July 19 - Quaranta (Via Borgo 92), 9:30 PM: Francesca Sarteanesi in Sergio, monologue;
• July 24 - Casa del Corto, at the Chiesa del Sacro Cuore, 6:30 PM: the Tenores di Orosei, as part of the Threshing Festival (Festa della Trebbiatura).

Between Piancastagnaio and Mount Amiata

Experiencing La Bella Stagione also means discovering Piancastagnaio and Mount Amiata: the chestnut groves, the Rocca Aldobrandesca fortress, rural traditions, and local cuisine. The festival integrates into the village's summer season, engaging with local festivities and traditions like the Threshing Festival, offering the public an experience that blends quality theatre, landscape, and community identity.