Terra e Laghi Festival

Theater on the move through the villages

Terra e Laghi is one of the longest-running traveling theater festivals in Northern Italy. Founded in 2007 by the Teatro Blu cultural association of Cadegliano Viconago (Varese), it crosses the Insubric region every year, bringing live performances to squares, churchyards, historic villas, parks, and cloisters in 44 municipalities across Lombardy, Piedmont, and the Canton of Ticino. In 2026, the festival celebrates its 20th edition with the theme "Geographies of the Possible – where art redesigns the world we want": 85 shows over seven months of programming, from May to November, for an audience that has reached nearly 300,000 spectators over twenty years.

The Varzo stop

Among the Piedmontese municipalities hosting the festival is Varzo, a village in the upper Val Divedro in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province, along the road climbing toward the Simplon Pass. The Varzo stop takes place in a picturesque setting: the steps of the San Giorgio parish church, overlooking Piazza Agnesetta, which becomes a natural stage for open-air theater.

On August 6, 2026, at 9:00 PM, "Christine e Hans Andersen" will be performed, a family show by the Swiss company I Giullari di Gulliver, written and performed by Prisca Mornaghini and Antonello Cecchinato. Christine and Hans are siblings: she is a writer, and he helps her give shape to characters; we see them at work as they invent a story. The creation is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes," reflecting lightly on how stupidity is born.

A borderless festival

The strength of Terra e Laghi lies in its cross-border and local nature: it brings high-quality theater where it usually doesn't reach, in small mountain and lakeside towns, with a language suitable for all ages. The programming ranges from drama to family theater, dance to contemporary circus, and opera to singer-songwriter music. The organizational heart is the Cadegliano Festival – Piccola Spoleto, while the external stops, like the one in Varzo, bring the festival's spirit to the territories of the Ossola and Lake Maggiore.

Free admission

Like most Terra e Laghi events, the show in Varzo is free of charge, designed to involve families, children, and residents in an open-air summer evening. In case of bad weather, the organizers will announce any changes to the venue.