Italia Nostra launches 'Minor' Festival on cultural heritage to be enhanced

Italia Nostra launches the first edition of the Festival 'Minor - The Festival of Cultural Heritage and Communities for Heritage', an unprecedented event dedicated to the rediscovery and valorisation of those minor cultural assets that, although often neglected, are fundamental for the history, identity and cohesion of local communities. From 19 to 21 September 2025, the municipality of Monticiano, in the heart of the Val di Merse (Siena), will be the protagonist of a three-day event, totally free and open to all, celebrating the widespread cultural heritage and, at the same time, the 70th anniversary of Italia Nostra, an association founded in 1955 and always committed to the protection of the landscape, the environment and Italian cultural heritage.

The Festival stems from a deep bond with the territory: precisely in Monticiano, Italia Nostra has been active since 2015 in the project to recover and enhance the Bagni di Petriolo thermal site, a place of great archaeological and naturalistic importance that will soon be reopened to the public.

The programme - comprising guided tours, walks, treks, art workshops, concerts, shows and meetings - will offer the public an immersion in the lesser-known but profoundly identity-based riches of the territory, with the aim of building a model of sustainable and shared valorisation.

During the three-day event, there will be institutional moments, thematic round tables and in-depth discussions with experts, academics and representatives of institutions, including the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Culture and the new Heritage Communities activated in the country.

Also enriching the Festival will be important guests from the world of culture, science and art: the writer Franco Arminio will open the cultural programme with a poetry reading and talk in Bagni di Petriolo on Friday 19 September at 6 pm, followed in the evening by a talk by Eugenio Cesaro, frontman of the band Eugenio in Via Di Gioia. Also on Friday, in Monticiano, biologist and ornithologist Francesco Petretti will hold a conference dedicated to the short-toed eagle, the so-called "snake eagle", and Mediterranean ecosystems. On Saturday 20 September, it will be the turn of the Sienese soprano Cristina Ferri, the protagonist of "Melodie tra i borghi", an immersive concert in the Festival venues.