Outsider Festival

A poetry festival in the heart of the Itria Valley

The Outsider Festival is an international event dedicated primarily to the art of poetry, held every September between Cisternino (Province of Brindisi) and the surrounding villages of the Itria Valley, in Puglia. Established in 2023, it brings together poets, musicians, actors, photographers, and visual artists from all over Europe and beyond, with a special focus on contemporary poetry and its intersections with music, theater, and dance.

"Beyond the Night": the poetic walk at the cemetery

The symbolic heart of the festival is the itinerant night walk through the San Pietro degli Angeli monumental cemetery in Cisternino. At dusk, the audience is welcomed near the cemetery and guided through the tombstones and local architecture in a journey of readings, silence, and live music. It is an intense and unusual experience that transforms a place of memory into a space for poetic contemplation, restoring a ritual dimension to the spoken word.

Poetry without borders

Each edition brings international voices to Cisternino and Ostuni: Italian and foreign poets take turns in bilingual readings, often accompanied by soprano, piano, and accordion. The program also includes poetic walks in historic centers, cycling routes along the Apulian Aqueduct, meetings with independent publishers, theatrical performances, and sensory experiences. The artistic direction is led by Adele Nacci and Dario Lacitignola.

Organizers

The festival is promoted by the Casa della Poesia Norah Zapata-Prill association of Ostuni, in partnership with numerous local entities such as Teatro Folletti e Folli, La Radice dei Viandanti, the Presidio del Libro of Martina Franca, FIAB CicloAmici, and the Associazione Meteo Valle d'Itria, with the patronage of the Municipalities of Cisternino and Ostuni.

Why it's worth attending

• An authentic and unconventional poetry festival, far from mainstream commercial circuits.
• The unique setting of the white villages of the Itria Valley and the monumental cemetery of Cisternino.
• An international scope with poets and artists from Europe, Latin America, and beyond.
• A rare blend of poetry, live music, theater, and slow walking through the Apulian landscape.

For those who love the poetic word and are looking for an intimate, unconventional cultural experience, the Outsider Festival is an unmissable event at the end of the Apulian summer.