For four days each year, the town of Pennabilli becomes something else—something that exists outside of time, yet deeply anchored in place. It becomes a stage. A gathering. A collective breath. Since 1997, Artisti in Piazza has grown into one of the most significant street performance festivals in Europe, welcoming over 40,000 visitors per edition and more than 350 shows, concerts, and spontaneous acts.
But numbers don’t tell the real story. The real story unfolds in the alleys at dusk. In the silence before a violinist plays on a wooden cart. In the laughter of a child who has never seen a tightrope walker that close. In the kitchen of a local home, where a clown is offered pasta al ragù by someone who, just hours before, had never heard of them.
This is not just a festival. It’s a ritual of temporary transformation. And that’s precisely why we felt compelled to document it / read the book
A Participatory Reportage
In collaboration with the organizers, the artists, and the residents of Pennabilli, Ayzoh! set out to create the most extensive visual and narrative documentation ever made on Artisti in Piazza. The result is a special monographic edition of our magazine—a book made of images, encounters, and shared moments.
At the heart of this work are the voices and gestures of Le Cirque Bidon, the poetic chaos of Rara Woulib, the soul of a town that doesn’t merely host a festival, but becomes it. Pennabilli doesn’t turn into a stage—it is the stage.
We didn’t stay on the sidelines. Our team lived the festival from within—sharing meals, sleeping in guest rooms, dancing, carrying cables, crying from laughter, and shooting from inside the circle, not behind the barrier.
Pennabilli, a Place of the Soul
Beloved by the poet and screenwriter Tonino Guerra, who called it his place of the soul, Pennabilli stands as a metaphor for something much greater than its size. It is a living example of how a small town, rooted in tradition, can become a powerful space of openness, encounter, and artistic freedom.
This book is our way of honoring that energy. A testament to what happens when artists, children, farmers, musicians, travelers, cooks, and acrobats come together—not to perform, but to live art in the street, on the grass, in a whisper, or through a scream.
