The third edition of the contemporary theater festival “Cosa porta il vento” will kick off on March 1, under the artistic direction of Tiziana Giordano, organized by the association Circo dell’avvenire and made possible thanks to the sponsorship of the Municipality of Cefalù.
The festival, with free admission, will run from March to May 2026 at the Teatro Comunale “Salvatore Cicero” and will feature five nationally recognized performances, taking the audience on an exploratory journey around the theme of “human relationships,” which is the focus of this third edition.
“In this moment in history, where violence between individuals and nations rages with increasing relentlessness, and we are constantly overwhelmed by apocalyptic images—both real and virtual—by unheard words and unjust actions, I feel once again the need to rediscover, through theater, a space and time where people, the relationships that bind them, and the very essence of our humanity are placed at the center.” With these words, Tiziana Giordano introduces the festival and adds: “It is necessary to renegotiate our human coordinates, to start again from the generative cores of our social life. Theater offers us the opportunity to come together as a community and, through the five proposed performances, invites us to reflect on the meaning and importance of human relationships, on their complexity and the contradictions within them. Theater asks us to slow down, feel our breath, open our eyes, and listen carefully to what is happening around us and within us, at a time when we are called to be present before it is too late.”
“We believe in the power of theater as a tool for growth and reflection, as well as a moment of social connection,” says the mayor of Cefalù, Daniele Tumminello, “and this is why the administration supports theater festivals like this one. Exploring human relationships, the theme chosen this year for the third edition of Cosa porta il vento, is essential for building a context attentive to the needs of people, with a view to improving the society in which we live.”
The festival opens with themes of love and friendship on Sunday, March 1, with “Celia,” a musical performance paying tribute to the sixteenth-century Sicilian poet Antonio Veneziano. Centuries later, his love octaves dedicated to his beloved Celia are brought to the audience through the musical compositions of Maestro Maurizio Curcio, in collaboration with Roberta Scacciaferro and Valentina Migliore. The Celia project, produced by the cooperative Le Baccanti, won the national SIAE 2025 competition for new music productions. The three artists will be accompanied on stage by Romina Denaro on double bass, Giuseppe Viola on winds, and actor Anton Giulio Pandolfo as Miguel de Cervantes, with whom Veneziano shared a cell for two years in Algiers, followed by a significant exchange of letters.
On Saturday, March 21, the Naples-based Compagnia Teatro Insania will present the performance “Mare di Ruggine. La favola dell’Ilva 2.0,” winner of numerous awards, including the 2025 National Critics’ Prize.
With text and direction by Antimo Casertano, and performed by Daniela Ioia, Luigi Credendino, and Francesca De Nicolais, produced by Fondazione Teatro di Napoli – Teatro Bellini, the show tells a family story spanning five generations, running parallel to the history of the former Ilva, later Italsider, plant in Bagnoli. It’s a journey through collective memory and working-class identity, union struggles, deindustrialization, and the social scars left by time, allowing an exploration of the complex dynamics of labor, economic, and power relationships.
A new feature of this third edition is the “Domenica per grandi e piccini,” with the contemporary puppet theater show “Felicia” by Stefania Ventura and Quinzio Quiescenti, produced by Quintoequilibrio and Teatro Evento, performed on Sunday, March 29. Winner of the CURA 2022 competition, the Premio Sicilia di Scena 2023, and a special mention from the Teatro & Critica network for the best shows of 2023, the performance combines fairy-tale aesthetics with deep social themes, exploring relationships with otherness, exclusion, prejudice, and the fragile path toward mutual understanding.
On Sunday, April 12, the festival continues with “Capinera,” written, directed, and performed by Rosy Bonfiglio, produced by La Memoria del Teatro ETS. Selected for Fringe Catania Off 2024, it won the Italian Palco Off operators’ awards and received a special mention from Retablo for best direction and performance. The show highlights human relationships profoundly influenced by social and moral conditioning, through a contemporary dramaturgical adaptation of Giovanni Verga’s nineteenth-century novel, centering on the theme of “cages,” both real and metaphorical, imprisoning the protagonist Maria, representative of all the “capinere” throughout history and our present. A school performance will take place on Monday, April 13, in the morning.
Closing the festival on Sunday, May 3, is “Se son fiori moriranno,” written and directed by Rosario Palazzolo, with Simona Malato, Delia Calò, and Chiara Peritore, produced by Teatro Biondo di Palermo. The play delves into family relationships, entering the closed room where a mother and daughter live, caught between past and present, bound by pain so unbearable that only imagination can offer relief—a force the author calls “a blessing, a curse, a device, and a trap,” capable of sabotaging reality, slowing the inevitability of events, and creating new improbable imaginaries that transform truth. A school performance will take place on Monday, May 4, in the morning.
Admission to the festival is free until capacity is reached. Afternoon performances start at 6:30 p.m.; the two Monday morning school performances start at 11:00 a.m.
Further details about the shows will be available on the web and social channels of the Municipality of Cefalù and Circo dell’avvenire.
For information, email: [email protected].