Ravenna is renowned for its monuments, among which as many as eight are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, and for its thousand-year history as the capital of kingdoms and empires.
But among the streets and ancient palaces, events are held all year round that make the city a modern capital of theater, music, dance and more. Here are the thousands of festivals in Ravenna!
RAVENNA FESTIVAL
The longest-running and most important cultural event in the city, Ravenna Festival was born in 1990 in the sign of great music and Dante Alighieri. It has always aimed to be a kermesse of quality and attraction, for citizens and visitors who come from all over Europe and the entire World.
Music of all genres, from classical to jazz, from ethnic to electronic, but also a lot of theater, dance and a myriad of collaborations and experimentations that invade the whole city between theaters, squares, parks, museums and clubs. The festival takes place in early summer but for more than a decade has reserved a moment for the mild season with the “Autumn Trilogy,” usually dedicated to opera.
One of the most exciting moments remains the great concert of the “Ways of Friendship,” which each year ideally unites Ravenna with a city in the world with a secular pilgrimage in the sign of brotherhood. Among the most significant twinnings is the one with tormented Sarajevo in 1997, Tehran in 2017, as well as Nairobi, Tokyo, Kiev and New York.
Period: June – July / December
More info: www.ravennafestival.org
BEACHES BREW
A landmark in the alternative music scene, this early summer festival has earned a respectable place in the global framework of the indie scene in just a few years.
A weekend literally with feet in the sand kicks off the beach party season, making Marina di Ravenna a little Coachella, visited by artists who often bring their only European dates here.
Several stages, one even in the pier area, see various artists take turns from afternoon to night, while the audience can enjoy a typical dish or drink, comfortably seated on the dunes or with their feet in the sea.
Fan fact: years ago we met a dutch girl and when we told her where we were from she commented: “Ah, Ravenna, where Beaches Brew take place!”
Period: early June
More info: www.beachesbrew.com
POLIS TEATRO FESTIVAL
A well-established event since 2018, this theater festival organized by ErosAntEros is one of the few in Italy to explore, through the shows it offers, important issues such as civil rights advocacy, migration, wars, climate change and the role of art in society.
Attentive to international productions (for several years it has been hosting European playwrights with a national focus) and local ones (it is a member of the “L’Italia dei Visionari” network, which allows the public to choose which shows to see in the programme), in 2022 it was awarded two Ubu prizes and the highest qualitative rating in its category according to the Ministry of Culture’s Single Fund for Performing Arts.
Period: April – Maj
More info: www.polisteatrofestival.org
NIGHTMARE FILM FEST
A peculiar festival entirely dedicated to Horror cinema, the Ravenna Nightmare Film Fest has now passed the twenty-year mark. Every year it presents long and short films from all over the world in competition, often hosting actors and authors of the works for numerous meetings with the passionate audience. Between previews, retrospectives and screenings dedicated to the youngest, it brings the best of dark cinematography to Ravenna for a week.
For years, the event has also included “GialloLuna NeroNotte”, a festival of Italian detective and noir films, coeval with Nightmare, which offers meetings with authors, exhibitions, concerts, screenings, and literary competitions, strictly with a ‘thriller’ theme.
Period: November
More info: www.ravennanightmare.it
COCONINO FILM FESTIVAL
The Festival of the Coconino Press publishing house, born in Ravenna, which celebrates comics by linking them with other languages and forms of expression, such as music, the novel, video and theatre.
Each year, the festival’s programme includes a rich calendar of meetings with the protagonists of the exhibitions, other cartoonists, and well-known artists who give life to a series of special events, shows, readings, live painting performances, and the great final party on the beach of Hana-bi in Marina di Ravenna.
Period: June
More info: www.coconinopress.it
SOUNDSCREEN FILM FESTIVAL
Cinema and music, this is the combination that gave rise in 2016 to Soundscreen, a festival that welcomes different genres and has always placed special emphasis on experimentation. Selected works take part in screenings of international long and short film competitions, alternate with special events, spaces reserved for authors from the region, appointments and meetings on cinema.
The common thread is always music, both as the theme of the works and as a soundtrack, an increasingly important part of many productions. Extremely suggestive is the section dedicated to soundtracks, in which great film classics are accompanied live by the best contemporary music groups.
Period: September – October
More info: www.soundscreen.org
FESTIVAL DELLE CULTURE
For over fifteen years the city’s Darsena has hosted this event, organised by the U.O. Immigration Policies of the Municipality of Ravenna, which hosts artists and authors from all over the world.
Great attention is paid to intercultural policies, social integration, migratory phenomena and art, in order to enhance the richness of the local context and contribute to a more competent, solidarity-based and cohesive society.
Period: Maj
More info: Festival delle Culture 2026
