Nuvola Creativa - Arts Festival

Nuvola Creativa, the arts festival in the heart of Rome

Nuvola Creativa - Arts Festival is an annual event dedicated to contemporary art, held in Rome, the capital of the Lazio region. Established in 2016, the festival is directed by curator Antonietta Campilongo and organized by the Associazione Neworld ETS, with the support of Roma Capitale and the Capitoline Superintendence for Cultural Heritage. Each edition transforms iconic city spaces, from the Villa di Massenzio on the Appian Way to the Mattatoio di Testaccio complex, into a sprawling laboratory of creativity.

A multidisciplinary project

The festival weaves together numerous disciplines: visual arts, painting, sculpture, photography, installations, video art, digital arts, performance, music, theater, dance, poetry, and cinema. At the heart of the event is a large collective exhibition featuring dozens of Italian and international artists, accompanied by a calendar of meetings, readings, seminars, debates, and workshops open to the public. The goal is to turn art into a shared practice, an "active cultural citizenship" where the spectator becomes part of a collective narrative.

The thread of themes

Every year, Nuvola Creativa chooses a timely theme around which to build its program. Throughout its editions, the festival has addressed the language of migration (Grammelot), the relationship between the real and the virtual (Virtus), ideas of dominance and responsibility, and, above all, the dialogue between humanity and the environment, explored in chapters such as Ghê Gaia Terra, Polvere (Dust), and Terra (Earth). Ecological reflection and the link between artistic creation and sustainability have become the festival's hallmark.

The venues: Villa di Massenzio and Mattatoio di Testaccio

The editions have primarily taken place at the Villa di Massenzio, a monumental archaeological site along the Via Appia Antica in the VIII Municipality, and within the spaces of the Mattatoio di Testaccio (formerly MACRO Testaccio), in the Testaccio district of central Rome. Both locations, enhanced through collaboration with Rome's cultural institutions, provide a striking backdrop where contemporary art engages with the history and archaeology of the Capital.

A free and participatory festival

Nuvola Creativa has always offered free admission, aiming to bring the widest possible audience closer to contemporary art. The event days, concentrated mainly on weekends, feature live performances, screenings, book presentations, and activities for families and children, making the festival an accessible and engaging appointment for both Romans and visitors to Lazio.