Leggo per legittima difesa – Festival of Narrative, Art, and Music

The Pratola Peligna stops of a widespread festival

Leggo per legittima difesa is a traveling cultural festival that crosses six municipalities in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, every summer: Pettorano sul Gizio, Sulmona, Pratola Peligna, Raiano, Pacentro, and Campo di Giove. Founded in the summer of 2020 by the Terza Pagina Cultural Association and directed by journalist Chiara Buccini, the project has evolved over the years from a simple book presentation series into a full-fledged festival of narrative, art, and music, spread throughout the villages of the Abruzzo Apennines. The Municipality of Pratola Peligna, in the heart of the Peligna Valley, is one of the permanent venues on the calendar.

Books, workshops, and Art Nouveau in Pratola Peligna

In Pratola Peligna, the festival offers a small but dense itinerary of events, dedicated to both adults and children. Book presentations are held in the Municipal Council Chamber, while workshops and guided tours take place in the hamlets and through the streets of the town center, exploring its architectural heritage. All events are free of charge and open to the community and the many visitors of the Peligna summer.

One of the most characteristic aspects of the Pratola stops is the promotion of its Art Nouveau architecture: Pratola Peligna preserves elegant floral-style buildings from the early 20th century, which are showcased through guided tours led by the NaTourArte tourist guides. The festival thus combines the promotion of reading with the discovery of the urban landscape and local history.

Pratola Peligna, crossroads of the Peligna Valley

Situated at the foot of Mount Morrone and a short distance from the Maiella, the Municipality of Pratola Peligna is an important hub of the Peligna Valley, also famous for its religious tradition linked to the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Libera. The choice to host the stops of Leggo per legittima difesa confirms the town's cultural vocation and its role within a network of villages that, from July to August, share a single large calendar of widespread events.

A project rooted in the territory

Promoted by the Terza Pagina Association and supported by local entities such as the Fondazione Carispaq and the BCC of Pratola Peligna, the festival has become a reference point for the cultural summer of the Peligna Valley. The event enhances the heritage of the L'Aquila villages and promotes reading as a tool for growth and cohesion for the mountain communities of Abruzzo, with an evocative title — Leggo per legittima difesa (I read in self-defense) — that claims the value of books as a form of cultural resistance.