ThòlosFestival (Floresta stage)

A widespread festival in the heart of the Nebrodi

ThòlosFestival is an arts and culture event held in the heart of the Nebrodi Park, in the province of Messina, involving the small towns of Floresta, Raccuja, San Piero Patti, and Ucria. Promoted by the Centro Teatrale Siciliano and artistically directed by Nino Romeo, the festival was created to bring high-quality theatre and classical music to the historic villages of the Sicilian hinterland, which are often overlooked by major cultural circuits.

The Floresta stage

Floresta is the highest municipality in Sicily, perched at over 1,200 metres in the Nebrodi Mountains, in the province of Messina. Here, ThòlosFestival performances are held in locations of great identity, primarily the Mother Church of Sant'Anna, and in the open-air spaces of the historic centre, such as the square on Via Umberto I. The free-admission evenings transform the town into a widespread stage, where locals and visitors gather under the stars to enjoy concerts, theatre, and storytelling.

Three souls: drama, music, and tradition

The ThòlosFestival programme is divided into three complementary strands:

• Contemporary drama, featuring texts by Sicilian authors such as Franco Scaldati, Vincenzo Pirrotta, and Nino Romeo himself;
• Music in village churches, with sacred repertoires, Spanish arias, Latin American songs, and melologues;
• Sicily between tradition and modernity, with the Opera dei Pupi (puppet theatre), songs by the Fratelli Mancuso, and tributes to figures like Rosa Balistreri.

Culture for small towns

The festival is part of a project to promote the historic villages of the Nebrodi and their cultural appeal. The underlying idea is that of community theatre, capable of enlivening the mountain towns of the province of Messina, in Sicily, and creating a dialogue between great artists and territories often considered marginal. For Floresta, ThòlosFestival represents one of the most anticipated cultural events of the summer.

2026 Edition

Dates for the 2026 edition of ThòlosFestival have not yet been announced. The festival, which reached its fourth edition in 2025, confirms itself year after year as one of the highlights of the Nebrodi cultural summer: the programme for the next edition will be released by the Centro Teatrale Siciliano in the months leading up to summer.