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BookSophia, a festival of the classical heritage

Three days in Massa Lubrense, on the Sorrento peninsula, to find the right words to discuss the present and shape the future. Free admission.

About

BookSophia is a project of Archeoclub d’Italia, Massa Lubrense branch. Founded in 2017, it takes place every year in Massa Lubrense and revolves around one idea: the classical world cannot be erased from the present.

It is not a festival of “the classics”, the works, authors and ideas that over time have become models, but a festival of inheritance: of what we have received from the past, what is still alive in the way we think and look at the world, and what we are called to pass on to future generations. Today this inheritance takes above all the form of the book: not just an object, but the way a civilisation preserves, transmits and renews what it has received.

Hence the name: book, the symbol of the book-based civilisation we belong to, whose lingua franca is English; and sophia, knowledge to be shared and brought into dialogue.

Three days, three areas: lex, what we inherit as the rule of living together (law, legality, active citizenship); paideia (παιδεία), what we inherit as the education of the person (stories, emotional education, cultural heritage); and ethos (ἦθος): identity, tangible and intangible heritage, technology. The programme combines university lectures, meetings with authors, workshops for schools, classical theatre and archaeological walks.

Next edition

The next edition is in preparation. Dates and venues will be published here.

Dates and venue to be confirmed

Taking part

Admission is free. Seating is limited for safety reasons and to respect the capacity of each venue, so booking is required. To book, write to festivalbooksophia@gmail.com with your name and the sessions you wish to attend.

Past editions

The archive of past editions is in Italian.