Previous editions
2025
«Perhaps all the wisdom, and all truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible», writes Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness. In the mind of Marlow – protagonist alongside Kurtz of the Polish-born, British-naturalised author’s masterpiece – the invisible marks the boundary between the known and the unknown, the conscious and the unconscious, appearance and truth, reason and madness, good and evil. It is a subtle, mysterious frontier that casts us into the abyss, and in doing so, saves us through its knowledge – because it is only from that abyss that light can emerge.
This idea of the invisible is the guiding thread of the 22nd edition of the Festival della Mente, the first European festival devoted to creativity and the birth of ideas. To cross its threshold – through the words of the speakers who lead us along the path of discovery – is to go beyond appearances, to pierce the veil of habit and indifference: on one side, to see reality anew in order to grasp its meaning; on the other, to look within, undertaking an inner journey toward the essence of things.
It is a subversive gesture, but also an act of responsibility, of listening, empathy, and openness to others and to mystery. For, once we have approached the invisible, we can no longer ignore it.
My hope is that revealing the many invisible worlds we will encounter during the three days of the festival – through the lenses of science and technology, art and literature – will inspire all of us, and above all the younger generations, to cultivate a more conscious and more humane gaze. It is up to us to learn to see the invisible: beyond ourselves, in the world around us and in others, whether near or far, but also within each of us, «in the inconceivable mystery of a soul that is struggling blindly with itself.»
Benedetta Marietti
Director of the Festival della Mente
Programme of the 22th edition
LECTIO MAGISTRALIS
Paolo Magri
Trump's invisible revolution
Cristina Ponzanelli Mayor of the Municipality of Sarzana
Andrea Corradino President of Fondazione Carispezia
Giacomo Raul Giampedrone Councillor of Liguria Region
Benedetta Marietti Director of the Festival della Mente
Event #7
Cristina Bazzanella, Patrizia Casali
Navigating the invisible: a journey through myth and Yoga Nidra
Event #20
Marco Albino Ferrari, Francesco Zago
The Invisible Mountains. A Live Musical Story
Event #22
Sonia Bergamasco
Duse and us: a plural portrait of an Artist
dramaturgy by Sonia Bergamasco and Marianna Zannoni
Event #25
Angelo Carotenuto, Marco Malvaldi
Playing with the Invisible. Tennis and what can’t be seen
Event #30
Piero Maranghi
The Intangible Abstract Art. A Semi-Serious Journey Through the Seen and Unseen in Music
Event #34Children / Kids
Per Aspera ad Astra
The Tale of Cì (who set out as a child and stopped as an old man)
View detailsEvent #47
Loredana Cirillo, Minotauro – Istituto di Analisi dei Codici Affettivi, Filippo Rosa
The Invisible Emotions of Adolescents… and Beyond
View detailsEvent #48
Centro Formazione Supereroi
Extreme Writing: Ghosts, Spirits, and Other Invisible Presences
View detailsEvent #49
Simona Panseri
The Culture of Enterprise: The Invisible That Shapes the Future
View details
