Lectorinfabula
The European cultural festival of Puglia, spread across Bari, Conversano, and the Bari area
About Lectorinfabula
A festival of ideas crossing Puglia
Lectorinfabula is one of the most important cultural festivals in Southern Italy, a European-scale event that enlivens the Metropolitan City of Bari every September. Founded in 2005 and promoted by the Giuseppe Di Vagno Foundation, the festival has turned culture into a shared asset, bringing writers, intellectuals, journalists, scientists, and politicians to engage with the public in an open dialogue on the great themes of our time.
For several years, Lectorinfabula has taken the form of a widespread festival: no longer concentrated solely in Conversano, the historic seat of the Foundation, but scattered across a network of municipalities in the Bari area, making it an itinerant and capillary experience that reaches squares, theaters, libraries, and bookstores throughout the region.
A single major theme for each edition
What distinguishes Lectorinfabula is the choice of a common thread that ties the entire program together. Each edition revolves around a question about our time: global transformations, the relationships between politics, science, and capital, and the challenges of democracy and coexistence. Around this theme, a dense calendar of meetings, book presentations, lectures, debates, and readings is built, featuring prominent protagonists of the Italian and international cultural scene.
Culture as civic engagement
The Di Vagno Foundation, named after the Apulian socialist deputy Giuseppe Di Vagno (1890-1921), gives the festival a strong civic vocation: the themes of memory, rights, citizenship, and democratic participation run through the entire program. A central aspect is the work with new generations, thanks to the direct involvement of dozens of schools, volunteers, and students who animate the meetings and become their protagonists.
An event for the entire Bari area
Based in Conversano and opening in Bari, Lectorinfabula involves numerous municipalities in the province—from Putignano to Castellana Grotte, from Rutigliano to Turi, from Noicattaro to Mola di Bari and Noci—transforming Puglia into a great laboratory of ideas. For the public, it is an opportunity to listen to renowned authors, discover books, and reflect together, almost always with free admission, in some of the most beautiful villages in the Bari hinterland.
Lectorinfabula — edition 2026
Lectorinfabula 2026: "The Contested Future"
The twenty-second edition of Lectorinfabula, presented at the Puglia Region headquarters, is dedicated to the theme "The Contested Future. The sense of limits, the measure of rules": a reflection on the contradictions of the 21st century, where the drive towards the unlimited clashes with the environmental, energy, demographic, and cognitive boundaries of our time.
The 2026 edition expands its cultural geography, going from six to nine municipalities: Conversano, Bari, Castellana Grotte, Mola di Bari, Noci, Noicattaro, Putignano, Rutigliano, and Turi. The program includes over 160 events in ten days — 40 aimed at high schools, 40 at primary and middle schools, and about 80 afternoon and evening meetings — with more than 200 speakers and the involvement of 23 schools, 9 libraries, and 7 bookstores.
Great space is dedicated to new generations, with the new format of "Generative Squares," intergenerational dialogues between young people and adults, and with the participation of a hundred volunteers between 16 and 19 years old and dozens of students in training programs.
Programme Lectorinfabula 2026
The festival opens on Thursday, September 17, 2026, in Bari, at the Teatro Kursaal Santalucia, with journalist Marianna Aprile.
The complete program for the 2026 edition — with the day-by-day calendar, locations, and guests for each of the over 160 meetings — will be announced in August 2026 on the official website lectorinfabula.eu and on the festival's social media channels. This page will be updated with the final line-up as soon as it becomes available.
Highlights Lectorinfabula 2026
- Opening on September 17 in Bari at the Teatro Kursaal Santalucia with Marianna Aprile
- Theme of the edition: "The Contested Future. The sense of limits, the measure of rules"
- Widespread festival in nine municipalities of the Bari area
- New "Generative Squares" format dedicated to young people
- Over 160 meetings and more than 200 speakers
Prices Lectorinfabula 2026
Practical information — Lectorinfabula
Where it takes place
Lectorinfabula is a widespread festival: meetings are held in theaters, libraries, bookstores, and squares in various municipalities of the Bari area (Conversano, Bari, Putignano, Castellana Grotte, Rutigliano, Turi, and others). The inauguration takes place in Bari, at the Teatro Kursaal Santalucia.
How to get there
Bari is well-connected by train and plane (Bari-Palese Airport). Conversano and the other municipalities can be reached by car and by the Ferrovie del Sud Est trains from the Bari station.
Admission and program
Most meetings are free to attend until capacity is reached. The full program, with dates, locations, and guests for each event, is published on the official website and the festival's social media channels.
Information
Official website: lectorinfabula.eu — organized by the Giuseppe Di Vagno Foundation.
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Where does it take place — Lectorinfabula
Teatro Kursaal Santalucia
Largo Adua 5, 70122 Bari