Porte Aperte Festival
Literature, music, and comics in the historic courtyards of Cremona
About Porte Aperte Festival
Culture Opens the City's Doors
Porte Aperte Festival is the cultural event that transforms the courtyards of Cremona's historic palaces into meeting spaces for literature, music, and comics. The name itself evokes the idea of openness: doors that swing open to the city's architectural heritage and to an open dialogue between different languages, generations, and cultures.
Authors, Concerts, and Comics
The program intertwines meetings with writers, literary readings, concert-performances, presentations of comics and graphic novels, in a curated lineup that revolves around a theme each edition. The festival pays particular attention to comics, with the collaboration of specialized organizations, and to singer-songwriter music, in a refined balance between words, sound, and image.
In Cremona's Most Beautiful Places
The events take place on a rotating basis in some of the city's most evocative locations: the Courtyard of Palazzo Affaitati — housing the State Library, the Civic Museum Ala Ponzone with its art gallery, and the Natural History Museum — the Courtyard of Palazzo Roncadelli-Manna, and the Federico II Courtyard, the medieval heart of Cremona. A choice that also makes the festival a journey of discovery of the city's historical and artistic heritage.
A Festival for the Community
With free admission subject to availability, Porte Aperte Festival is designed as an event for the community, capable of attracting a broad and diverse audience and embedding itself in the cultural life of the Province of Cremona. An event that combines quality offerings with accessibility, in the spirit of participation.
Porte Aperte Festival — edition 2026
The 11th edition of Porte Aperte Festival enlivens Cremona from June 4th to 7th, 2026, with artistic direction by Andrea Cisi, Mario Feraboli, Marco Turati, and Marina Volonté. The theme of the edition is "Demos": collectivity, integration, citizenship and active participation, democracy, and the meeting of different cultures.
The music section takes place at the Federico II Courtyard, featuring Ginevra Di Marco (concert-performance dedicated to Luis Sepúlveda), Andrea Chimenti (former frontman of Moda, one of the founding groups of Italian rock in the 1980s), and Tära, a young Italian singer-songwriter of Palestinian origin. Three literary reading events are scheduled, with Elena Radonicich and Paola Caridi among others. The comics section features Grazia La Padula (author of the 2026 poster), Majid Bita, Igort, and Arianna Lentini (ARLEN).
Programme Porte Aperte Festival 2026
Theme: Demos (June 4-7)
Music — Federico II Courtyard
- Ginevra Di Marco — concert-performance dedicated to Luis Sepúlveda
- Andrea Chimenti — former frontman of Moda
- Tära — singer-songwriter of Palestinian origin
Literature
- Three literary reading events, with Elena Radonicich and Paola Caridi
Comics
- Grazia La Padula (author of the 2026 poster)
- Majid Bita — graphic novel "The Enchanted Bus"
- Igort — "Riding with Poets"
- Arianna Lentini (ARLEN) — "A Night as a Rider"
Venues
- Courtyard of Palazzo Affaitati, Courtyard of Palazzo Roncadelli-Manna, Federico II Courtyard
Full program on porteapertefestival.it.
Highlights Porte Aperte Festival 2026
Prices Porte Aperte Festival 2026
Practical information — Porte Aperte Festival
Where
The events take place in the courtyards of the historic palaces in the center of Cremona (CR): Palazzo Affaitati, Palazzo Roncadelli-Manna, Federico II Courtyard.
Getting Here
By train: Cremona station, a few minutes' walk from the historic center. By car: parking near the center, then reachable on foot.
Admission
All events are free admission subject to availability. Full program on porteapertefestival.it.
Festival-goer photos
No photos yet. Share yours!
Share your photos
5 photos max, 5 MB per photo (JPG, PNG, WebP)
Noticed an error or missing information?
Help us keep this listing up to date. Every proposal is verified by our team before publication.
Festival-goer reviews
No rating yet — be the first!
No comments yet. Be the first!
Were you there?
Share your experience with the community.
Where does it take place — Porte Aperte Festival
Cortili dei palazzi storici di Cremona
Via Ugolani Dati 4, 26100 Cremona