Ricomincio dalle Storie

A storytelling festival at the foot of Mount Vesuvius

Ricomincio dalle Storie is the storytelling festival for children and teenagers that transforms San Giorgio a Cremano—a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania—into a vast laboratory of tales every May. Launched in 2022, it is presented by the organizers as the first event of its kind in the region: three entirely free days where storytelling is explored in all its forms, from children's literature to theater, music, and comics.

This is not just a simple book fair: the underlying idea is that stories are not merely entertainment, but an educational tool capable of fostering listening, connection, and community, while nurturing curiosity and critical thinking in younger generations.

The venues: historic villas, library, and bookstore

The festival takes place across some of the most beautiful and iconic locations in this Vesuvian city:

• Parco Letterario di Villa Falanga, home to the Children's City Laboratory (Laboratorio Città dei Bambini e delle Bambine) and the green heart of the event;
• Villa Bruno, with its park and the Bibliobimbi space;
• Giovanni Alagi Municipal Library;
• the La Bottega delle Parole bookstore, a local landmark for reading.

All venues are within walking distance of each other in the town center: the festival is designed to be experienced on foot, moving from one workshop to another without needing a car.

A program designed for all ages

Every edition features dozens of free events tailored to different age groups. Over the years, the public has enjoyed:

• presentations of children's books and meetings with authors and illustrators;
• animated readings, kamishibai, and puppet theater;
• creative writing, comic book, and illustration workshops;
• theatrical and musical performances for young audiences;
• role-playing game tables (Dungeons & Dragons), classic board games, and a mobile library (ludobus);
• reading groups led by teenagers themselves;
• workshops on the environment, sustainability, yoga, and well-being.

Fridays are traditionally dedicated largely to schools, with mornings reserved for classes; on Saturdays and Sundays, the festival opens up to families, with activities spread throughout the parks until evening.

A different theme for every edition

Each year, the artistic direction chooses a common thread that runs through the entire program. Starting in 2022 with the idea of welcoming, the festival moved through Mirror Reflection in 2024 and Wings and Roots in 2025, leading up to the 2026 theme, Once Upon Another Time: an invitation to look at fairy tales from a new perspective, flipping endings, characters, and certainties to discover that every story hides other possibilities.

From the Naples book fair

Ricomincio dalle Storie is a spin-off of Ricomincio dai Libri, the Naples book fair, and is organized by the cultural association of the same name together with La Bottega delle Parole and the Regional Laboratory for the City of Children in San Giorgio a Cremano. The artistic direction is entrusted to Viviana Hutter. The event has also enjoyed institutional support from the Municipality and, in 2025, was included in the M.a.g.i.e. calendar of the Metropolitan City of Naples.

Why it's worth visiting

In a densely urbanized area like the Vesuvian region, where spaces dedicated to children are never enough, Ricomincio dalle Storie offers three days of culture accessible to everyone, free of charge. It is an ideal opportunity for children to discover a bookstore, a library, and a historic park all in the same afternoon, and for adults to reconnect with children's literature, which is often more surprising than one might think. Visitors from out of town can also take the opportunity to visit the Vesuvian villas of the Golden Mile and nearby Herculaneum, just a few minutes away by train.