Ribbon cutting for the fifteen years of Trame, the festival of books on the mafia in Lamezia Terme, for an edition as always full of guests, meetings and, above all, particularly attentive to some important anniversaries. Enthusiastically, the president of the Trame Foundation, Nuccio Iovene, began during the institutional greetings by recalling the now inseparable bond between the festival and the city of Piana and how, for a few editions now, events on legality, social commitment and cultural inspiration animate more and more locations in the area as well as with various events during the year, primarily educational ones in schools.
«A festival that goes to the citizens to be recognized – commented Iovene –: this year we will remember the hundred years since the birth of Giannino Losardo, killed by the mafia, the 80 years of the Republic, the 50th of the minority report of the Anti-Mafia Commission signed by Pio La Torre and the birth of the newspaper founded by Eugenio Scalfari, the 30th on the social use of confiscated assets».
But the start of the festival was held above all under excellent auspices linked precisely to the territory: yesterday the new public prosecutor, Elio Romano, took office in Lamezia, while in the previous hours the news arrived of the reopening of the investigations, by the DDA of Catanzaro, into the tragic murder of the street cleaners Pasquale Cristiano and Francesco Tramonte, innocent victims of the mafia 35 years ago. A case still unsolved, a wound that has always not healed for the Lamezia community.
«Events like Trame are important because we must not only remember the anti-mafia but fight daily for the affirmation of rights», said mayor Mario Murone who also remembered the recent tragedy of Amendolara, inviting reflection starting from the subtitle of the festival, «Land and freedom».
Long thanks from President Roberto Occhiuto, in particular for the many young people who make up Trame’s family, «this is the Calabria that should make the Calabrians proud, the Calabria that does not hide the mafias, that does not hide the ‘ndrangheta, a Calabria that does not hide, which shows that there is a lot of hope, there are many antibodies». More specifically, for Occhiuto, a certain way of approaching crime «has often represented an alibi for many incapable people, an alibi for which nothing can be done in Calabria because the ‘Ndrangheta is there. If we don’t change this narrative, if we don’t say that antibodies are prevalent, we will still give the mafias leverage to proliferate.” Hoping, therefore, that Trame’s work can continue beyond the days of the festival, Occhiuto focused extensively on the theme of culture, on the “Cabin of visions” which has been operating in synergy with the president for months through a team of young activists from the regional cultural world, and even new ideas on the creation of cultural apps and spocks, on the assets confiscated from the mafia to be recovered, yes, but with well-considered plans, and then the “solidarity bookshops”.
Space, to follow, for the inauguration of the many exhibitions hosted by the festival – among others, the works of Oliviero Toscani in Corleone, the satire of Mauro Biani – starting from the now consolidated collaboration with the Archaeological Museum of Lamezia which exhibits a small bronze sphere found in the archaeological excavations of Terina in 2016, a real “electoral card” of the ancient Magna Graecia polis. The route has the explanatory title «Seeing democracy. The legacy of the ancient between classical testimonies and contemporary creations” and unfolds in the open spaces of the cloister of San Domenico with the site-specific installation “Civic Alphabet”, by the artist Massimo Sirelli.
At dusk, focus on hospitality, with the presentation of the “welcoming families” project and starting from the book “25 stories of hospitality, solidarity, autonomy” (ed. Altraeconomia, 2025) and a video greeting from Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi who edited the preface. «There is no future without hospitality – Zuppi’s motto – the family is such because it opens up, welcoming means giving trust, giving a future, the stories in this book are a jubilee, they encourage us to rediscover the hope that has been lost and to free ourselves from the subtle anesthesia of resignation». Talking about it to the Trame audience were Antonella Agnoli, Maria Chiara Caruso and the Malian Bakary Dembelè, witness of the Sai for minors, Luna Rossa. «Trame has a long eye – explains the journalist Caruso regarding the theme of hospitality linked to the festival – over the years it has opened up the history of the mafias to other contexts. Why build the conditions for a bad welcome, this is also mafia.”
During the first full day of Trame there was also talk of linguistics and the “language of the mafia”, with an interesting lectio by Michele Cortelazzo of the Accademia della Crusca, while for the «Trame on stage» section the Walden company graced the stage in Piazza San Domenico with the show «Fate i thunder», with Antonio Fama and Marco Zordan. In the evening, the presentation, with Stefania Auci, of «The Dawn of the Lions», new chapter of the successful “Florio saga” (North edition) and, to reiterate the link of the festival with the social commitment of hospitality, the long-awaited moment dedicated to World Refugee Day 2026, with the photojournalist Francesco Malavolta and in collaboration with numerous local entities.