Laga Rural Villages Cultural Festival

A widespread festival across the Laga villages

The Laga Rural Villages Cultural Festival is one of the most original cultural events in the central Apennines. Rather than being concentrated in a single location, it is a travelling and widespread festival that, over eleven months, visits dozens of towns and rural villages across three regions — Abruzzo, Marche, and Lazio — and four provinces: Teramo, L'Aquila, Ascoli Piceno, and Rieti. Its geographical heart is the Laga Mountains massif, located within the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park.

The festival aims to promote cultural revaluation and social regeneration in inland mountain areas, which are often subject to depopulation. Each stop is designed as an encounter between the local residents and visitors: a form of slow, conscious tourism that respects the rhythms of the mountains.

The Campli and Nocella stop

In the Municipality of Campli, in the province of Teramo (Abruzzo), the festival reaches one of its most significant milestones. Campli is one of the most beautiful villages in the Teramo area, famous for its Holy Stairs (Scala Santa), the Pharmacist's House, and a medieval historic centre. The day in Campli unfolds between Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, in the heart of the town, and the nearby hamlet of Nocella, reached on foot along scenic trails.

The typical programme for each stop alternates between cultural insights and hiking: guided tours of historic churches, talks by archaeologists and local scholars, historical-artistic storytelling, and theatrical performances. It is a formula that blends hiking, heritage, and collective memory.

History, archaeology, and memory

Each edition of the festival revolves around a theme that unites the various stops. The days in Campli have specifically explored the relationship between the mountains, the history of the Italic peoples, and the memory of the Resistance, with readings spanning the centuries from prehistory to the 20th century. In doing so, the festival gives a voice to a territory that has served as both border and refuge, a land of passage and protection.

A free and participatory event

Participation in the Laga Rural Villages Cultural Festival is free of charge, though booking is mandatory due to the hiking nature of the days. The festival is promoted by local associations — including the FARE APS Association and the CAI Val Vibrata Monti Gemelli Section — in collaboration with the Campli Tourist Office and numerous local entities, with the patronage of public and cultural bodies.