Salento Book Festival

The Salento Book Festival

The Salento Book Festival is one of Southern Italy's most beloved literary events: a traveling festival that transforms the squares, gardens, and historic landmarks of the Lecce province into stages for books every summer. Its spirit is captured by the motto "The Festival of Books, the Buzz of Readers": free, open-air evening meetings where the public engages with writers, journalists, and personalities from the worlds of culture, music, sports, and entertainment. The event is organized by the National Book Festival Cultural Association and is conceived and directed by journalist and television author Gianpiero Pisanello, supported by co-directors Antonella Lattanzi and Massimo Bernardini.

The Taviano Stop

In the town of Taviano, in the province of Lecce, the festival brings authors right to your doorstep with free evening events. Taviano—a small town in lower Salento known for its flower cultivation and proximity to the Ionian coast of Gallipoli—is part of the festival's widespread program, which highlights smaller towns by turning reading into a collective, community experience. Guests present their latest editorial works in direct dialogue with the audience, covering novels, non-fiction, investigative journalism, and current affairs.

A Widespread Festival in Salento, Puglia

The Salento Book Festival is not tied to a single city: it is a truly widespread festival that, throughout the summer, visits eighteen municipalities in the province of Lecce, the heart of the Salento region in Puglia, with special events also held in Lecce, Tuglie, and Maglie. This traveling format allows the festival to reach smaller villages, enhancing their urban spaces and squares. Every year, the event attracts over fifty nationally renowned authors, including writers, television journalists, magistrates, and faces of Italian popular culture.

Why Attend

• Free admission to almost all events;
• Open-air evening meetings during the beautiful Salento summer;
• Nationally renowned authors in the heart of Salento;
• A convivial atmosphere that blends culture and social life;
• The chance to discover Taviano and lower Salento between one meeting and the next.

For the local public and visitors alike, the Taviano stop is an opportunity to experience the buzz of readers in an authentic setting, discovering new books and meeting their authors in person.