Paleolitica Street Fest

An open-air museum at the foot of Grotta Paglicci

The Paleolitica Street Fest is an urban art residency that annually transforms the historic center of Rignano Garganico, a small town in the Gargano area of the Foggia province, into a sprawling open-air gallery. The project stems from a simple yet powerful idea: to foster a dialogue between contemporary art and Grotta Paglicci, the famous archaeological site located just a few kilometers from the town, which holds the only known examples of Paleolithic cave paintings in Italy. The village walls thus become an ideal canvas for tracing a line of continuity between the challenges faced by our ancestors and the major issues of the modern day.

Five artists, five large-scale murals

Each edition brings together five artists from various Italian regions, who live and work in the town for a week, creating large-format mural works. These are not merely decorations, but visual narratives designed for the alleys, squares, and buildings of Rignano: themes such as the evolution of technology, gender equality, climate change, hyper-connectivity, and migration resonate with the prehistoric imagery of the cave. At the end of each edition, the town's mural heritage grows, enriching a permanent artistic trail that can be visited in any season.

Archaeology, workshops, and accessibility

The festival is more than just painting: the program includes guided tours of the murals, experimental archaeology workshops, art workshops, and meetings with the artists in various town spaces, from the Centro Studi Paglicci to the Palazzo Baronale. All activities are free and designed to be accessible to a wide audience, in line with the goal of removing physical and cognitive barriers to make culture more inclusive.

A public project for inland Puglia

The event is promoted by the Municipality of Rignano Garganico and coordinated by architect Giulio Mandrillo, with artistic direction by Alessandro Suzzi and scientific collaboration from the University of Siena, which has a long-standing connection to the Paglicci excavations. The project is funded under the PNRR – Tourism and Culture 4.0 initiative and serves as an example of how a small town in inland Puglia can invest in contemporary art to enhance its archaeological heritage and boost the tourist appeal of the Gargano region.

Why visit

• An entire village transformed into an open-air street art gallery.
• The unique connection to Grotta Paglicci and the prehistory of the Gargano.
• Murals signed by established artists from the Italian urban art scene.
• Completely free tours, workshops, and meetings.