Sanseverino Young Art

An arts festival built around young people

Sanseverino Young Art is a national festival and competition that, in just a few years, has transformed Mercato San Severino—a major town in the Nocera-Sarno Valley, in the Province of Salerno—into an open-air laboratory for youth creativity. The project is promoted by the Municipality of Mercato San Severino in partnership with the "Sabatini-Menna" Art High School of Salerno and the Francesco Terrone Foundation, with the collaboration of the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples. It is more than just an award: it is a week of exhibitions, public workshops, meetings, and performances involving schools, associations, and local businesses in the historic center.

Who can participate and how the competition is organized

The call for entries is open to students of Italian Art High Schools and artists, whether individuals or collectives, aged between 18 and 35. Each edition revolves around a national theme, which serves as the common thread for the works presented. The categories defined by the regulations are:

• Visual Arts: painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, ceramic design, and installations;
• Musical Performance: classical and modern music;
• a section dedicated to audiovisual works, as specified in the calls for entries distributed by Italian Academies of Fine Arts.

Participation is free, and registration is done online via the official festival website. The total prize pool announced by the organizers is 7,000 euros, divided among the different categories. Works selected by the artistic direction and the jury are then exhibited to the public and awarded during the final evening.

Exhibitions, workshops, and the historic center

The heart of the festival is the Town Hall (Palazzo di Città), where the exhibition featuring the finalist works is set up, open to the public for free every day. Surrounding the exhibition is a program of free workshops that takes over the town's central streets: ceramics, street art, collective murals, and participatory installations, coordinated by professors and artists from the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples, particularly from the School of Sculpture. This is the most vibrant part of the event, as it takes contemporary art out of exhibition halls and places it literally among the people.

The final awards ceremony is held at the Municipal Theater on Via Trieste and features announcements, screenings of works created by students, and musical performances.

Growth edition after edition

• 2023 — first edition, with the winners awarded in October;
• 2024 — second edition from October 21 to 26, marking the shift to a national scale: in addition to Campania, artists participated from Lombardy, Apulia, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, and Trentino-Alto Adige;
• 2025 — third edition from November 22 to 29 on the theme "Community, the art that unites," dedicated to the memory of sculptor Ugo Marano (1943-2011), with the exhibition at the Town Hall extended until December 6.

Why it's worth visiting

Sanseverino Young Art is now one of the most interesting showcases in Campania for those following emerging art. Visitors will find a free and accessible festival where they can watch a young sculptor at work in the street, enter a collective exhibition without a ticket, and attend an awards ceremony that brings together art high schools, academies, and institutions. All of this takes place in a town that still preserves the scale and rhythm of a traditional Campanian village, just a few kilometers from Salerno and the Amalfi Coast.

When it takes place

Dates change from year to year: the 2024 edition took place in October, while the 2025 edition was held between late November and early December. Competition entries generally close a few weeks before the exhibition opens. For the 2026 edition, the Municipality has not yet released the official calendar: it is best to follow the festival website and the channels of the Municipality of Mercato San Severino.