Salento Book Festival

The Salento Book Festival

The Salento Book Festival is one of the most beloved literary events in Southern Italy: a travelling 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 Readers' Movida"—featuring free, open-air evening meetings where the public engages with writers, journalists, and key figures from the worlds of culture, music, sports, and entertainment. The festival is organized by the National Book Festival Cultural Association and is conceived and directed by journalist and television author Gianpiero Pisanello, joined in 2026 by co-directors Antonella Lattanzi and Massimo Bernardini.

The Tiggiano Stop

In the municipality of Tiggiano, a small village in the Capo di Leuca area of lower Salento, in the province of Lecce, the festival makes its debut with the 16th edition in 2026. The festival's widespread format highlights even the smallest towns, turning reading into a collective and communal experience: authors present their latest works in direct dialogue with the public, covering novels, non-fiction, spirituality, and reflections on current events. Tiggiano—located just a stone's throw from the Adriatic coast of Marina Serra and the towns of Tricase and Corsano—welcomes an evening dedicated to books under the deep summer sky of Salento.

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 numerous municipalities in the province of Lecce, the heart of the Salento region in Puglia, with events also held in Nardò, Galatone, Specchia, and even Bari. This travelling format allows the festival to reach the smaller villages of the Capo di Leuca, showcasing their squares and urban spaces. Every year, the event attracts dozens of nationally renowned authors, including writers, television journalists, magistrates, musicians, and popular figures from Italian culture.

Why Attend

• Free admission to the events in Tiggiano;
• Open-air evenings during the beautiful Salento summer;
• Nationally renowned authors in the heart of the Capo di Leuca;
• A convivial atmosphere that blends culture and social interaction;
• The chance to discover Tiggiano and lower Salento between one meeting and the next.

For the local public and visitors vacationing on the coast, the Tiggiano stop is the perfect opportunity to experience the readers' movida in an authentic setting, discovering new reads and meeting their authors in person.