Selvatico Fest

A festival between the big screen and wild nature

Selvatico Fest is a cultural event that combines documentary cinema with the exploration of the local territory, hosted in Farnese, a small village in the Alta Tuscia region of the Viterbo province, in Lazio. The festival comes to life on the edge of the Selva del Lamone Regional Nature Reserve, a protected area of woodlands, lava flows, and ancient pastures that becomes the true protagonist of the event. The underlying idea is simple yet powerful: taking cinema out of the theaters and into the stone-paved historic center and forest trails to tell the story of the relationship between humanity and the landscape.

Themes: landscape, rural areas, and slow tourism

Since its first edition in September 2025, the festival has focused on the themes of rural areas, pastoralism, and slow tourism. The days alternate between evening screenings, round tables, and book presentations with experts, scholars, and activists reflecting on the care of marginal territories and non-extractive landscape practices. Documentary film is the preferred medium: a lens that brings the public closer to stories of mountains, transhumance, and communities resisting in the most fragile corners of the country.

Cinema, workshops, and excursions

The Selvatico Fest program is widespread and participatory. Alongside the outdoor screenings, the event features:

• Guided nature walks inside the Selva del Lamone, discovering the flora and volcanic geology of the area;
• Workshops for adults and children, ranging from botanical printing to landscape-inspired cooking;
• Meetings and book presentations dedicated to the new humanism, rural development, and sustainability;
• Documentary screenings by Italian and international filmmakers, followed by debates.

Farnese and the Tuscia Viterbese

Farnese is a perched village that gave its name to the famous Farnese family and preserves a medieval historic center overlooking the Olpeta river valley. The Selva del Lamone, with its volcanic rock "murce" and the tales of the bandits who once roamed it, is one of the most evocative and lesser-known landscapes in Lazio. The festival thus becomes an invitation to explore this corner of Alta Tuscia, amidst nature, history, and local communities.

Organizers

Selvatico Fest is promoted by Aucs - Associazione Universitaria per la Cooperazione e lo Sviluppo APS together with the Municipality of Farnese, the Selva del Lamone Regional Nature Reserve, and Arci Viterbo. A network that unites the associative world, local authorities, and protected areas to build a cultural appointment rooted in the Lazio region.