Fondazione Campania dei Festival was created in 2007 following a Call issued by MIBACT, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism. Former presidents are Rachele Furfaro (2007-2010), Caterina Miraglia (2011-2014), Luigi Grispello (2015-2017). Current president is Alessandro Barbano (since 2018).

In the sixteen years since its inception, it has become a wide-ranging cultural institution that produces, promotes and manages a complex system of projects on a regular basis. The first project was Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, international theatre, dance, and music festival held at the beginning of summer in Naples and several locations in Campania. Renato Quaglia (2008-2010), Luca De Fusco (2011-2014), Franco Dragone (2016) and, since 2017, Ruggero Cappuccio have been the Festival’s directors. Since 2020, the Festival’s name has changed into Campania Teatro Festival.

Other projects managed by Fondazione include Punta Corsara (2008-2010), cultural enterprise project for Scampia’s Auditorium Theatre, featuring a program of theatre workshops and performances; World Urban Forum (2012), organized in collaboration with the United Nation agency UN-Habitat, which attracted more than 6000 visitors from all over the world.

In occasion of 2009 and 2010 festivals, Fondazione organized the following events: the E45 Napoli Fringe Festival, based on Edinburgh Fringe’s model in support of young companies, and Campania Teatro Festival Italia, a series of events organized in collaboration with San Carlo Theatre including symphony concerts, operas, and ballets.

In 2013, Fondazione participated in Culture for all, European cooperation project for Kosovo.

Since April 2014, Fondazione has been an in-house supporter and producer of projects for Campania Region. Projects launched in recent years include Quartieri di Vita, started in 2016 and set every year in December. Quartieri di Vita finds and supports organizations operating in at-risk areas of Campania via workshops using theatre as a tool of integration and professional training.

Fondazione also supported, promoted, and organized the Cantieri Viviani (2016-2018) and Totò, l’arte e l’umanità (2017) projects, which involved several local artists, scholars, and cultural institutions celebrating the works of the two important Neapolitan talents.

In 2017, Fondazione Campania dei Festival also launched “Dramma antico alle Terme di Baia”, an event that captures the historical and natural heritage of Baia Archaeological Park via ancient theatre performances. That same year, Fondazione supported and organized “Sipari aperti. Festival degli altri mondi” in collaboration with the Avellino’s Council for Culture. The project supported city theatre focusing on social themes and was aimed at improving theatre’s cultural offer.

In 2017, Fondazione participated in the Ministry’s three-year Call for Ruggero Cappuccio’s project of Artistic Direction.

In 2018, Fondazione joined Performances beyond two shores, European project of cultural workers’ cooperating with and encouraging the professional growth, mobility, and work of young Arab artists in Europe.

The Cultural and Tourism General Unit invited Fondazione Campania dei Festival to create a digital archive of live performing arts within the innovative Ecosistema digitale della cultura in Campania (Digital Ecosystem of Culture in Campania) platform. The Move to cloud project assigned Fondazione with the institutional leadership to establish a media library that will represent and promote the performing arts sector of Campania.

In 2019, the Municipality of Naples was chosen to host Universiade 2019 (World University Games), the sporting event for university athletes from all over the world. For the occasion, Napoli Festival Italia presented a selection of shows that took place in landmark sites.

In 2019 Adotta un filosofo was launched. The project’s mission, curated by Massimo Adinolfi, was to promote high school lectures on the theme of Europe, held by twenty philosophy professors and scholars. About eighty institutes from Campania region joined the initiative, whose success prompted the Fondazione to launch a second edition on “Law” in 2020. Since 2022 the project name changed into “Adopt a philosopher + a scientist”.

In 2022, Campania’s Region entrusted Fondazione with the organization of the first edition of Campania Libri Festival, a new literary adventure with the editorial supervision of philosopher Massimo Adinolfi. The event, held at Naples’ Royal Palace from the 29th of September to the 2nd of October, turned the city into “a kingdom of books and literature”. There were many and illustrious guests, including national and international writers, intellectuals, journalists, philosophers and, finally, representatives and professionals from the global arts and publishing scene. The second edition of the Festival was held from 5 to 8 October 2023. This year, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, it was dedicated to Italo Calvino and the themes contained in his Norton Lectures. As with the first edition, the Festival was held at the Royal Palace in Naples, a unique location, where over 90 stands were hosted and about 200 meetings with national and international authors and artists took place.

To check videos and playlists about Fondazione’s projects and events, you can suscribe to the main Youtube channel.