Never before have we witnessed such an acceleration in change, such comparable instability, not only in the Earth system, but in any complex system—economic, geopolitical, technological, to name just a few macroscopic and current examples.

"We can consider the Earth as an intrinsically unstable system in which any change in initial conditions, however minimal, can have enormous consequences for its future. When the changes are not minimal but substantial, such as a 1.5°C increase in average temperature in a handful of years, predicting what the future of our planet will be like becomes completely impossible," says Festival Director Stefano Mancuso. No one can know what will happen, and those who dare to make predictions—which, in any case, is never prudent—have as much chance of being right as a fortune teller or oracle of times past. MORE INFO

This is a new normal, where previously unimaginable things become commonplace. We'll have to get used to it and begin to understand how to navigate a world we can no longer read.

During the Festival, national and international guests will embark on this journey through direct discussions, lectures, meetings, interviews, and performances. Over 90 events over four days will be shared with scientists, philosophers, psychoanalysts, economists, geopolitical experts, writers, journalists, and artists. With them, we will explore the fragilities of our time: global warming, extreme weather phenomena, landscape transformation, the energy question, political, geopolitical, economic, and even existential instability.

Among the first names announced: astrophysicist Patrizia Caraveo, president of the Italian Astronomical Society; Spanish writer and essayist Javier Cercas, one of the most influential voices in contemporary European fiction; actor and writer Giuseppe Cederna; economist Carlo Cottarelli, director of the Italian Public Accounts Observatory; English writer and journalist Lucy Jones, an expert on science and ecology; climatologist Elisa Palazzi, professor at the University of Turin and researcher at the CNR; American essayist and science communicator David Quammen; and geographer Mauro Varotto, professor at the University of Padua and an expert in environmental geographies.