From 1 to 5 July, in the heart of Sicily, the Between Music&Arts Festival returns, not a simple Festival, but a journey that reactivates ancient places through music, dance performances, visual arts, cinema, presentations and talks.
It is not pure entertainment but a creative workshop in which art in all its expressions becomes an instrument of relationships, capable of overcoming geographical and cultural boundaries.
The event promoted by the Archaeological Park Authority of Morgantina and the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina, a UNESCO site, and by the municipalities that are part of it – now in its fifth edition – continues to revitalize these places by bringing contemporaneity into history. It is a true artistic laboratory in which different art forms inhabit the timeless beauty of archaeological sites such as the Villa Romana del Casale, the Archaeological Museum of Aidone and the archaeological area of Sofiana a Mazzarino, and of historical structures such as Palazzo Trigona, and the former convent of Sant’Anna in Piazza Armerina in the heart of Sicilian baroque.
It makes use of the fundamental collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) given the international vocation of the project, the Experimental Cinematography Center of Palermo, Confagricoltura Donna, Anpa and the network of ArchLabs research centres.
A Festival that places the Mediterranean at its centre, today the scene of conflicts and closures, but which has always been the cradle of interconnected civilizations and cultures. In this scenario, the Between Music&Arts Festival aims, through art and creativity as a universal language, to enhance the intercultural relations of the peoples who live there so that it becomes a place of peace, meeting and enrichment again.
In this sense, the beating heart of the Festival is the artistic production Campus, dedicated to young creatives from the Mediterranean and European countries with an interdisciplinary approach between music and audiovisual. An extraordinary meeting opportunity, therefore, for sharing and collective creativity for the selected participants. In fact, not only will they live together, but they will collaborate side by side for days, creating new works with the coordination of the Saint Louis College of Music. Musical pieces and short films (inspired by the themes and places of the Festival) which will be presented publicly on the final evening dedicated to the Campus, in Piazza Duomo in Piazza Armerina. Another novelty of this edition is the collaboration of the Campus with the ARCHILABS Summer School, an international archaeological excavation project at the Villa Romana del Casale with 50 young people from all over the world. The discovery of new and extraordinary finds further enriches the cultural value of the initiative, in which young people will once again be protagonists as possible builders of a society based on knowledge and respect.
Places with a very powerful symbolic value thus become exceptional stages. Some of these sites are still little known to the general public, the aim of the Between Music&Arts Festival is in fact to shine a light on hidden treasures, identifying new locations for the live show, in order to enhance and reveal their rare beauty.
In this context, the Between Festival, through its intersectoral activities, brings back to life the former abandoned convent of Sant’Anna in Piazza Armerina, which the Municipality assigned free of charge to the event for the holding of the Campus and other initiatives. The journey through the territory continues in the archaeological area of Sofiana in Mazzarino, where the public will be welcomed in an evocative concert at dawn, before making a stop at the Archaeological Museum of Aidone where the famous Venus of Morgantina is kept: a divine figure, Ceres/Demeter for the Roman and Greek world, which recalls a very timely message, a warning for human beings to rediscover balance and respect for the earth and nature.
In this context another new element is inserted such as the precious collaboration activated with the city of Gibellina recognized as the first Italian Capital of Contemporary Art 2026, an open-air museum where art has reconstructed life after the earthquake.
This synergy through debates and meetings best expresses the essence of the Between Music&Arts Festival, that is, generating a fruitful flow between antiquity and contemporaneity.
The focus of this edition is represented by the manifesto words “Borders-Together”. An invitation to reflect on overcoming cultural, geographical and social boundaries through art and creativity. Therefore borders understood not as barriers but horizons to be crossed and transformed into opportunities for knowledge and discovery of others. The term “Together” focuses on the uniqueness of the individual and the identity history of a people to be shared with each other and with different cultures in the name of mutual enrichment, as an alternative to conflict.
The Between Festival therefore indicates the way, asks questions and suggests possible answers.
A vision that runs through the entire artistic program and materializes in all forms of expression, demonstrating how art can be a concrete tool for changing things from the depths.
A fruitful example is the consolidated relationship with the MusicaInsieme a Librino Orchestra, made up of children from the disadvantaged suburbs of Catania, who together with a group of deaf and dumb kids, will perform for the first time, in a performance dedicated to inclusion, overcoming the negative concept of borders as closure and exclusion. The young singer-songwriter Francesca Feci also enters into this unpublished dialogue. From this perspective, limits become opportunities to unite different worlds and create new bonds.
Another common thread of the Festival is the valorization of the role of women. It is no coincidence that the first edition drew inspiration from the famous image depicted, in the mosaics of Villa Romana del Casale, of women in bikinis in the gesture of exchanging (between) the ball. Along this line is the project “Art and Nature in the lands of the Mediterranean”, curated by Licia Guccione and Solveig Cogliani, in which entrepreneurs from six agricultural companies open their doors to artists in residence in a splendid encounter between business, the cycle of life and art.
Another project that raises awareness and offers citizens the opportunity to reflect on the value of beauty and diversity is represented by: The Human Bridge. A project conceived by Solveig Cogliani, who since 2025 has placed works of art on the seabed, starting from Lampedusa, with the aim of building a real marine museum of contemporary art that highlights how the Mediterranean can become a place of peace and encounter.
The artistic program reflects the philosophy of the Festival: to give life to a multifaceted cultural journey capable of uniting different expressive languages. A rich program that finds its most significant moment in the final evening. Art and music as an experience of change and inclusion. “The energy of young people in art”, an evening with events in succession that kicks off with the Festival’s resident Orchestra, MusicaInsieme a Librino with special guest the talented Francesca Feci: “The past that re-emerges” with the first public presentation of the results of the excavation activities at the Villa Romana del Casale, with the University of Bologna and the ArchLabs Summer School; “50H Film Contest” with the screening of the short film selected by Campus Cinema; ending with the key event, the “Between Songwriting Camp” in which the young talents of the Campus interpret the original songs created during the residency, in a concert that celebrates creativity and the meeting between the identities of the Mediterranean.
The Hon. Federico Mollicone, President of the Culture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, commented on the initiative as follows: “The Between Music & Arts Festival represents a virtuous model of how culture and contemporary art can promote an identity and social relaunch of our most precious territories. Events of this level not only enrich the Italian cultural panorama, but demonstrate the extraordinary ability of our Nation to combine the protection of the immense historical and archaeological heritage with the creative innovation of young talents. It is an excellent example, then, of cultural diplomacy projected into the heart of the Mediterranean, a model that we support with conviction. I congratulate Roberto Grossi and Stefano Mastruzzi for the organization and the prestigious cultural program of the event.”
As Carmelo Nicotra, Director of the Archaeological Park Authority of Morgantina and of the Villa Romana del Casale, underlines: “The Festival Between expands and enriches the cultural offer of the Park, projecting it into an increasingly international dimension, thanks to artistic and creative expressions from all over the world. An initiative that stimulates the economic and social growth of the territory, enhancing our historic vocation for the meeting between cultures and identities, with an eye especially on the new generations”.
Nino Cammarata and Ettore Messina, respectively Mayor and Councilor for Culture and Events of the Municipality of Piazza Armerina: “We are happy to host the rich program of the 2026 edition of the Between Festival. A project in which we have always believed and which, in the places of our baroque city, offers high-profile contents in the encounter between cultural identities, in line with our tradition of hospitality and innovation”.
Roberto Grossi, Globart President and Artistic Director of the Festival: “Art unites and regenerates individuals, communities, places, creating strong bonds. For this year we have chosen the themes “Borders” and “Together” to reflect, therefore, on a society that must be open, welcoming, full of opportunities for everyone. A Festival centered increasingly on young people as protagonists of change, rediscovering the threads of the cultural history of the Mediterranean to build courageous and solid paths of renewal in the life we live”.
Stefano Mastruzzi, President Saint Louis College of Music and Artistic Director: “The International Songwriting Campus of the Between Music&Arts Festival is an artisan workshop where young artists from different countries around the world will meet to talk about the future. An opportunity to listen to each other, get to know each other and let themselves be transformed by the encounter with each other. Today music has a new responsibility: to create spaces in which differences do not divide, but generate shared ideas, new relationships and new stories to tell.
The songs that will arise from this experience will be the fruit of a dialogue between different cultures, sensibilities and visions, the demonstration that creativity can still be one of the most powerful languages for building communities and imagining the future.”
The artistic directors, Roberto Grossi and Stefano Mastruzzi, express heartfelt thanks to the President of the Culture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, the Hon. Federico Mollicone, for wanting to host the presentation of the Festival in such a prestigious institutional venue. Confirming the cultural and social value of the Between Festival and providing encouragement on the path undertaken.
ALL EVENTS ARE FREE.