From 21 September to 10 December 2026
From 21 September, the fifth edition of the theatre, music and dance festival promoted by the Municipality of Naples and funded by the National Fund for the Performing Arts of the Directorate-General for Performing Arts of the Ministry of Culture.
Fourteen projects involving six Municipalities in a free programme dedicated to different literary genres and musical fields
The curtain rises on the fifth edition of Affabulazione – Espressioni della Napoli policentrica, the theatre, music and dance festival promoted by the Municipality of Naples with the financial support of the National Fund for the Performing Arts of the Directorate-General for Performing Arts of the Ministry of Culture, aimed at staging live events and workshops across the city, spread out according to a polycentric approach to foster social inclusion, territorial rebalancing and the promotion of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
The activities run from 21 September to 10 December.
This year, 14 projects were selected through a Public Call, for a total of 130 live performances and 242 workshops, meetings and seminars, all with free admission, ready to shape a single large autumn programme in order to create connections between and with the suburbs.
The goal of the City Administration is not only to support artistic production, but to generate a positive socio-economic impact, drawing audiences from the centre towards the neighbourhoods and giving visibility to the many local creative realities.
The main novelty of this edition of Affabulazione – Espressioni della Napoli policentrica is its thematic approach.
Each participating Municipality has been paired with specific literary and musical genres, and all the performances and workshops offered in a given area draw inspiration from those atmospheres, creating six great narrative districts:
• Municipality 4 (Poggioreale and Industrial Zone): noir/crime fiction and blues and soul music.
• Municipality 6 (Ponticelli, San Giovanni, Barra): comedy and humour and funk and jazz music.
• Municipality 7 (Secondigliano, Miano, San Pietro a Patierno): the historical/biographical strand and classical music.
• Municipality 8 (Scampia, Piscinola, Marianella, Chiaiano): the adventure/epic genre and rock music.
• Municipality 9 (Soccavo, Pianura): children's/coming-of-age literature and hip hop, ska and reggae music.
• Municipality 10 (Fuorigrotta, Bagnoli): fantasy and science fiction suggestions and electronic music.
Part of the initiative, funded with approximately 900 thousand euros, is also the use in a new way of places outside the traditional circuits for live performances, such as parks, churches, schools, libraries and multipurpose centres.
Many artists take part in the festival: among others, Valerio Aprea, Andrea Bacchetti, Fabrizio Bosso, Cloris Brosca, Paolo Caiazzo, Lino D'Angiò, Maurizio de Giovanni, Stefano Di Battista, Francesco Di Leva, Cristina Donadio, Roberta Gambarini, Javier Girotto, Lello Giulivo, Biagio Izzo, Peppe Lanzetta, Dado Moroni, Adriano Pantaleo, Patrizio Rispo, Gino Rivieccio, Daniele Sepe and Marco Zurzolo.