Periferie Teatrali

Theatre that meets the city

In Messina, Periferie Teatrali flips the traditional idea of live performance on its head: it is not the audience that goes to the theatre, but the theatre that goes to the people. Promoted by the Fondazione Messina per la Cultura in synergy with the municipal administration and the Metropolitan City of Messina, the festival chooses the city's most fragile neighbourhoods as its stage—those that usually remain on the fringes of major cultural programmes.

Unconventional spaces

The heart of the project lies in the choice of locations: squares, parks, courtyards, and streets become open-air stages. Performances take place in a parish football field, a fishermen's square, the cloister of a Benedictine monastery, or an urban park. This is theatre as proximity, recognising the cultural dignity of the suburbs and inviting residents to reclaim the common spaces of their own neighbourhood.

A Thespian wagon on four wheels

The stage setup is one of the most recognisable elements of the festival: performances travel aboard a MotoApe, fitted out as a modern 'Thespian wagon'—the ancient travelling cart used by Greek actors to bring theatre from village to village. The vehicle arrives in the suburb, transforms into a stage, and brings the performance to life before the residents, before moving on to the next neighbourhood.

An experimental and popular proposal

Periferie Teatrali was born with a clear goal: the cultural and social growth of the peripheral neighbourhoods of Messina. The proposal is simultaneously experimental, poetic, and popular, capable of reaching an audience often far from traditional theatrical circuits and activating an authentic dialogue between the local community and the artists. For the city of Messina and the entire metropolitan area in Sicily, it stands as one of the most interesting examples of community theatre spread across the territory.

Dates for the 2026 edition have not yet been announced. The festival traditionally takes place in August.