The sixth Lyon edition of Italissimo, the festival of Italian literature and culture founded in Paris under the patronage of the Embassy of Italy in Paris, marking its return to the city of the two rivers, has come to a highly successful close. Italissimo is an original project by the Association Illico; its Lyon edition is organised in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Lyon and the Italian Cultural Institute in Lyon.
For four days, meetings, film screenings, lectures and debates brought the city to life, shining a spotlight on the contemporary Italian literary scene, its established talents and its emerging voices.
Among the invited authors, Tommaso Melilli, Alessandra Selmi, Francesca Melandri, Fiamma Luzzati, Marta Aidala, Alessandro Barbaglia, Emanuele Coccia and Giorgio Vasta brought a diversity of voices, worlds and perspectives, capable of portraying contemporary Italy, its stories and its transformations.
The programme will be rounded off by a screening of Riccardo Milani’s film La vita va così (Life Is Life) at the centrally located Cinéma Lumière Terreaux, attended by the director. The event attracted a large audience, who were touched and moved by a play that portrayed universal social issues with sensitivity and profound humanity. Rounding off the programme, the musical reading adapted from Filelfo’s L’Assemblea degli animali (The Assembly of Animals), featuring Xavier Jacquelin and Manuel Schweitzer, highlighted the central role of environmentalist thought in contemporary discourse.
Italissimo thus proves itself to be much more than just a literary festival: it is an invitation to discover Italy through its ideas, its culture and its voices, but also a forum for encounter and dialogue between Italy and France.
