Libro Parlante Summer Festival

A reading festival in the heart of Capurso

The Libro Parlante Summer Festival is the premier summer cultural event of the Municipality of Capurso, a town in the Metropolitan City of Bari famous for the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Pozzo. Every September, the festival transforms the "D'Addosio" Municipal Library and the historic town squares into an open-air literary salon, where books find their voice and become a catalyst for discussion, debate, and entertainment.

A long-standing cultural project

Launched in the early 2010s, the festival celebrated its fifteenth edition in 2025, cementing its status as one of the most established literary fixtures in the territory south of Bari. The "Libro Parlante" (Talking Book) format supports Capurso's cultural life year-round with presentations and readings, while the summer edition—the Summer Festival—concentrates an intense calendar of evening events in the library and outdoors throughout September.

Words, music, and performance

The festival's hallmark is the fusion of genres: book presentations and author meetings are complemented by concerts, dramatic readings, artistic performances, and singer-songwriter evenings. Over the years, the festival has hosted prominent national figures, bringing well-known faces from Italian culture, music, and entertainment to the squares of Capurso alongside writers, poets, and journalists.

• Literary encounters with Italian authors and local voices;
• "Writers for a Night", a space dedicated to emerging storytellers;
• "Zero-Mile Poets", poetry readings featuring local authors;
• Concerts and spoken-word performances in the town squares;
• The "Oscar del Libro", a symbolic award tied to the festival.

Venues

The heart of the event is the "D'Addosio" Municipal Library, which hosts evening presentations, while the most popular events take place outdoors in Piazza Gramsci and other central locations. The free-entry format and the schedule spread across the entire month make the festival a popular and inclusive event, capable of engaging readers of all ages.

Capurso and Apulia

Located just a few kilometers from the regional capital, Capurso views the Libro Parlante Summer Festival as a moment of identity and social connection, integrated into the municipality's broader summer program that weaves together culture, music, tradition, and solidarity. The festival represents a significant piece of the literary landscape in Apulia, a region that has seen a widespread growth in book and reading festivals in recent years.