La valigia delle voci
Music, history, and literature across the villages of Valle Varaita
About La valigia delle voci
A festival traveling through the villages of Valle Varaita
La valigia delle voci is the traveling cultural festival promoted by the Unione Montana Valle Varaita, one of the most evocative valleys in the province of Cuneo, Piedmont. The format, first introduced in 2023 and returning in 2026 for its second edition, aims to bring high-quality cultural content to various towns in the valley, creating connections between often distant places and communities.
The title refers to a simple, symbolic object—the suitcase—linked to travel, memory, and work: a vessel capable of holding the experiences, voices, and identity of a mountain territory. In keeping with this concept, the festival does not take place in a single location but moves along the valley, visiting villages at low, medium, and high altitudes.
Music, history, and literature
The project focuses on three different yet complementary languages, showcased over three evenings. The second edition, scheduled between May and June 2026, featured a journey across the territory involving three locations:
- Sampeyre (lower valley) with an evening dedicated to local history and educational memory;
- Verzuolo with a musical program blending jazz and classical tradition;
- Bellino (upper valley) with an event dedicated to literature and art.
All meetings took place in the evening at 9:00 PM, following a lecture-performance and concert format designed for an attentive and curious audience.
The Bellino stop
The Municipality of Bellino, in the upper Valle Varaita, hosted the third and final evening at the former school in the hamlet of Celle, a place that preserves the memory of mountain life. Here, writer Davide Longo presented his lecture-performance dedicated to the art of storytelling without explicitly declaring it, traversing painting and literature from Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio to Flaubert.
The festival is supported by the Fondazione CRT and represents an example of how culture can become a tool for animation and cohesion for the small municipalities of the Alpine arc in the Province of Cuneo.
La valigia delle voci — edition 2026
The second edition of La valigia delle voci offered, between May and June 2026, a cultural journey along the Valle Varaita, in the Province of Cuneo. Three evenings, three villages, and three different languages: history, music, and literature. The festival, promoted by the Unione Montana Valle Varaita with the support of the Fondazione CRT, concluded on June 5th in Bellino with Davide Longo's lecture-performance at the former school in the hamlet of Celle.
Programme La valigia delle voci 2026
Friday, May 8 — Sampeyre
- 9:00 PM, at the new spaces of the Comprehensive Institute complex
- Lorenzo Baravalle — "Echoes from the mountain. Characters and stories of culture and school in Valle Varaita", a show dedicated to local educational memory, accompanied by the exhibitions "Sampeyre, school memories" and "Borders. The adventure of education in peripheral territories".
Friday, May 22 — Verzuolo
- 9:00 PM, Palazzo Drago
- Luigi Martinale Quartet with the chamber orchestra of the Ghedini Conservatory of Cuneo — "Songs without words", a musical project between jazz and classical tradition inspired by Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities".
Friday, June 5 — Bellino
- 9:00 PM, former school in the hamlet of Celle
- Davide Longo — "La storia, c'est moi. From the art of Artemisia Gentileschi to Flaubert's novels: talking about oneself without showing it", a lecture-performance on identity and hidden autobiography in art and literature, from Gentileschi to Caravaggio and Flaubert.
Highlights La valigia delle voci 2026
Prices La valigia delle voci 2026
Practical information — La valigia delle voci
Where it takes place
The Bellino evening was held at the former school in the hamlet of Celle, in the upper Valle Varaita (Province of Cuneo, Piedmont). Other stops of the festival took place in Sampeyre and Verzuolo.
How to get there
Bellino can be reached by car from the lower Valle Varaita by traveling up the SP8 past Sampeyre. The valley floor is connected to Saluzzo and Cuneo, the nearest major cities. A private car is recommended, as public transport service to the upper valley is limited.
Admission and reservations
Participation in the events is free, with reservations recommended on the website www.vallidelmonviso.it/la-valigia-delle-voci.
Contacts
Valley Tourist Office: +39 0175 978321 — [email protected]
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Where does it take place — La valigia delle voci
Ex scuola di borgata Celle