The 69th Festival of Two Worlds will take place in Spoleto from June 26 to July 12, 2026. The new artistic director, Daniele Cipriani, has chosen "Roots" as the theme for the 69th edition of the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto. The goal is to look to the future by starting from the origins. The Festival of Two Worlds returns to Spoleto with a 17-day program, over 100 shows, 7 world premieres, 9 original productions, and more than 1.000 artists from 27 countries. The Festival was founded in 1958 by Gian Carlo Menotti, himself an Italian by nature, who grew up between Cadegliano and New York.
The inauguration, on June 26th, will see on stage Vanessa by Samuel Barber with a libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, in a new production produced by the Festival in co-production with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Fondazione Teatro Petruzzelli. The direction is by Leo Muscato. The choice is not accidental. As Muscato himself explains, Vanessa It brings together two worlds, European tradition and American culture, and brings them into dialogue, naturally intersecting with this edition's theme. An American opera written by an Italian composer with a libretto by another Italian emigrant. Roots, indeed.
The musical program brings MIKA Symphonique to Piazza Duomo on June 30th. Yannick Nézet-Séguin with Yuja Wang and the London Symphony Orchestra on July 3rd, and Gianandrea Noseda's final concert on July 12th. Dance, theater, and the visual arts integrated into the city's urban spaces complete a program that transforms the entire city of Spoleto into a stage. New to this edition is the Festival dei Due Mondi Academy, a new training program dedicated to those under 35.
For those living outside Italy, the Festival of Two Worlds is more than a cultural event to mark on the calendar. It's confirmation that Italy still knows how to do great things. Gathering a thousand artists from twenty-seven countries in a medieval town in Umbria, it transforms the tension between past and present into living art. Festival President Andrea Sisti defined the theme "Roots" as a celebration of the value of the past and the power of change. He thus evoked the profound identity of an event capable of constantly exploring the contemporary.
Words that sound familiar to those who carry their roots with them every day, everywhere in the world.
