So'Fest – Soccavo Places Festival

A festival born from the neighborhood

So'Fest – Soccavo Places Festival is a cultural and participatory event held in the Soccavo district, on the western outskirts of Naples, in Campania. This is not a top-down festival: it is a grassroots initiative born from the local associations that have been animating the area for years. Its central theme is "places"—the spaces that a community inhabits, cares for, and claims as its own.

Parco Don Gallo, the heart of the event

The festival is hosted at Parco Don Gallo on Via Nerva, one of Soccavo's most significant green spaces. Once abandoned and neglected, the area was reclaimed in 2013 by local residents and the Comitato Soccavo, who established a community garden and transformed it into a self-managed public asset, later recognized by local authorities. The park is named after Don Andrea Gallo, the Genoese street priest known for his commitment to the marginalized. Choosing this location as a stage is no coincidence: Parco Don Gallo itself is a testament to what a public space can become when a community takes care of it.

"Listening to the Neighborhood": the first edition

The first edition of So'Fest, titled "Listening to the Neighborhood," took place on June 6, 2026, from 4:30 PM to 11:30 PM. The guiding theme was listening: gathering the voices of those who live in Soccavo, giving a platform to those who are rarely heard, and focusing on the relationship between residents and the places of the Neapolitan periphery. The day's activities were centered around this theme, designed for an intergenerational audience, from children to adults.

Workshops, readings, games, and music

The day's program was built as a blend of different, accessible, and participatory formats:

• artistic and creative workshops, open to all ages;
• readings for adults and children, moments of shared storytelling in the open air;
• games and recreational activities throughout the park;
• live music, accompanying the transition from afternoon to evening;
• moments of collective reflection on public spaces, their usage, and the privatization processes that threaten them.

It is a format that rejects the separation between spectator and participant: at So'Fest, you participate rather than just watch, and every activity is designed to foster connections among attendees.

The So'ccultura movement and the Carnevale Sociale

The festival is organized by the Carnevale Sociale Soccavo as part of the So'ccultura movement. The Carnevale Sociale is a historic fixture of the neighborhood, with over a decade of editions behind it: every year, it brings parades, costumes, music, and social commentary to the streets of Soccavo, involving schools, associations, day centers, and families. So'Fest represents its natural summer extension, an opportunity to continue the cultural work in June that takes place during the winter carnival.

Why visit

Visitors to Naples rarely venture as far as Soccavo, a working-class district in the city's western area, part of the 9th Municipality alongside Pianura. Yet, So'Fest offers an authentic glimpse of a Naples beyond the postcards: one of neighborhoods that organize, reclaim spaces, and build culture without large budgets. For residents of the Naples metropolitan area and Campania, it is a free, family-friendly, open-air event; for those arriving from further afield, it is an unusual and sincere way to experience the Neapolitan periphery.