From July 9th to 25th, the evocative ruins of the ancient city of Nora will host the 44th edition of the "Night of the Poets" Festival, organized by CeDAC Sardegna. Nine open-air evenings, ten events featuring theater, music, dance, and literature, featuring some of the most important names on the Italian and international scene.
The festival, one of the most anticipated cultural events of the island's summer, will offer a journey through diverse stories, emotions, and artistic languages, set against the unique backdrop of the Pula archaeological site. The program includes shows, readings, concerts, site-specific performances, and stand-up comedy, featuring Ambra Angiolini, Lina Sastri, Elena Arvigo, Stefano Fresi, Jacopo Fo, Elena Ledda, and American musician Kevin "Sonny" Gullage.
The opening, on July 9th, will be led by Ambra Angiolini, who, in her directorial debut, will stage "The Mysterious Disappearance of W" by Stefano Benni, an ironic and visionary monologue about the search for identity. The following day, Elena Arvigo will perform "Anna della pioggia," based on Michela Murgia's collection of short stories, a powerful portrait of a woman exploring themes of loneliness and self-discovery.
On July 11th, there's room for experimentation with a double event: the contemporary dance "Room With View – Outdoor," by Laura Beschi and Alessio Scandale, and "Aéras N.2" by composer Gabriele Marangoni, a sound installation that transforms silk into a musical instrument.
On July 16th, the festival will open to the sounds of the Mediterranean with "Bent'e Mari," a project that combines the voice of Elena Ledda and the guitar of Brazilian composer Roberto Taufic in a musical dialogue between Sardinia, North Africa, and South America. The following day, Stefano Fresi will pay homage to Fabrizio De André with "Dell'amore, della guerra e degli ultimi," a show that intertwines music and narration through some of the Genoese singer-songwriter's most celebrated works.
On July 18th, Jacopo Fo will perform "The King of Charlatans," a tribute to his father, Dario Fo, on the centenary of his birth. Through stories and songs, the show will retrace the creative universe of the Nobel Prize winner for Literature.
After a short break, the festival will resume on July 23rd with a blues concert by Kevin "Sonny" Gullage, a young talent from New Orleans considered one of the emerging voices on the American scene. On July 24th, Lina Sastri will perform "Maria Maddalena o della Salvazione," based on Marguerite Yourcenar's "Fuochi," a powerful monologue dedicated to the figure of Mary Magdalene.
The grand finale will be on July 25th with “Iliade Open Mic” by the collective Il Terzo Segreto di Satira, an original reinterpretation of the Homeric poem with a contemporary and ironic twist, where Achilles, Ulysses, Helen, and Paris recount the Trojan War as protagonists in a stand-up comedy show.
Between the sunset over the sea and the allure of the ancient stones of Nora, "The Night of the Poets" confirms its vocation to combine culture, entertainment, and the valorization of the archaeological heritage, once again transforming one of the most evocative places in Sardinia into a great stage under the stars.