Italian Cultural Festivals: From Ephemeral Events to Public Institutions

A new study reveals that Italy hosts 2,755 cultural festivals, with 2,216 active annual events as of December 2025. The sector has seen 900 new festivals in the last five years, 90 in 2025 alone. Music leads with 594 festivals, followed by literature (589), live performance (495), cinema (407), and visual arts (131). Despite this vibrancy, Italy ranks 23rd out of 27 EU countries in public cultural spending (0.5% of GDP) and fourth-last in cultural consumption. Festivals often compensate for systemic underfunding. Milan (117 festivals) and Rome (115) top the city rankings, but over a third of events occur in small towns or municipalities under 2,000 inhabitants. Seasonality remains strong, with July peaking at 401 festivals. However, 522 festivals have ceased or suspended activity since 2018, especially in theatre/dance and literature. The research was presented in Milan at the launch of Giulia Alonzo's book "I festival culturali in Italia. Storia, dati, prospettive" (FrancoAngeli, 2026) and the new study "I festival come istituzioni culturali" coordinated by Paola Dubini (Bocconi University, DBFest). The independent portal TrovaFestival, founded in 2016 by Alonzo and Oliviero Ponte di Pino, now includes the DBFest database. The event also introduced FEST, a weekly newsletter by Artribune dedicated to cultural festivals.