There are landscapes that preserve memory. Not only that of geology or the seasons, but also that of the people who lived in, crossed, and brought them to life through stories. Every path, every forest, every hamlet holds traces that time risks making invisible.

The 2026 edition of ALT(R)O festival Valmalenco, themed Memories of Landscape, is born from this awareness: to train the gaze to read what the landscape keeps, and to understand how that memory can turn into storytelling, art, music, photography, and poetry—so that what time has imprinted on the land does not disappear into oblivion.

For three weekends, Valmalenco becomes a space for slow exploration where naturalists, writers, artists, photographers, musicians, and researchers guide the public through walks, encounters, and performances that invite people to observe the territory with fresh eyes. An invitation to slow down, to listen, and to build a deeper relationship with the mountains through direct experience and meeting those who study them, tell their stories, and interpret them.

This is not a festival to watch, but a festival to walk through.

September 19-20

Nature, memory, and observation

The first weekend is dedicated to discovering nature and the invisible relationships that link people, animals, and forests.

Saturday, opening the festival, will be Enrico Bassi, ornithologist and naturalist, one of Italy’s leading experts in alpine birdlife, who will guide Col naso all'insù, an ornithological walk from Chiareggio to Alpe dell’Oro. A slow journey to learn to recognize the birds of Valmalenco through observation, traces, and listening to their songs.

In the afternoon, the same Bassi will lead Colloqui ornitologici, a semi-serious experiment between scientific outreach and imagination, attempting to give voice to the birds’ dialogues—inviting the public to observe the natural world with curiosity and irony. To conclude will be Wrapped in larches, covered by the stars, the traditional night-time appointment of ALT(R)O Festival. Guided by Andrea Mori, forest therapist, artist, and mountain guide, participants will experience a forest immersion with an overnight stay outdoors in the heart of the woods. An experience of listening and contemplation that encourages you to slow down, letting yourself be wrapped by the forest’s silence, the light of the stars, and the rhythms of nature. More than a hike, it’s a chance to live in the forest slowly and rediscover a deep relationship with the landscape.

On Sunday, the forest becomes the star with Sotto la corteccia, a guided narrative walk led by Valeria Fazzi, environmental hiking guide, storyteller, and facilitator of forest immersion sessions, together with Ruggero Spada, a teacher of natural sciences. A journey through the biology, symbols, and myths of trees that invites you to read the forest as a living archive of memory, relationships, and transformations.

September 26-27

Author-led walks

The second weekend puts the landscape—told through literature—at the center.

In collaboration with CAI Edizioni, writers and educators will accompany the public along paths that become pages to read and to write together.

Saturday Franco Faggiani, writer and journalist, author of some of the most acclaimed novels dedicated to the relationship between people, mountains, and nature, will lead Racconti custodi di memorie, an itinerary devoted to the value of the slow journey and the memory of places.

Sunday morning will instead be led by Stefano Motta, writer and lecturer, for years committed to the study and enhancement of Alpine culture, who will guide Fantasie di paesi fantasma, a walk among forgotten villages, history, and legend—where ruins become an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between past and present.

Saturday evening, the authors will meet the public at the Literary aperitif, together with Emiliano Cribari, poet, photographer, and seeker of lost places, in a conversation moderated by the journalist and photographer Andrea Greci, dedicated to the landscape, memory, and responsibility toward places.

On Sunday, the festival will propose Quello che resta, a presentation of the artistic residency by Emiliano Cribari, who for a week crossed Valmalenco, letting himself be guided by the forest’s edges, abandoned clusters, and less-traveled paths. Through readings, stories, and stops along the route, the public will be able to retrace his experience, which will culminate in the performance by MUNI, a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, author of the performance created from the shared residency.

October 3-4

Artistic paths

The final weekend explores the landscape through the languages of contemporary art.

Saturday Paolo Novellino, a sound researcher engaged in the study of alpine acoustic landscape, will present O.R.S.A., a traveling performance that brings the sounds of the present into dialogue with an archive of recordings collected over the past ten years. An invitation to listen to the mountains as a place of memory.

The day will end with E.R.T.A. – Etnografie Risonanti del Territorio Abbandonato, a project by the artistic duo Molom, made up of Alessandro Pedretti and Milena Berta, which—through sound sculptures, installations, and artistic research—restores the memory of the abandoned hamlet of Erta, transforming forgotten objects into instruments for listening and storytelling. The performance, reproduced in the 2026 edition, originates from the artistic residency carried out by the duo in Valmalenco in 2025, and represents the public return of a research journey that continues to live over time.

On Sunday, Filippo Macchi, a photographer working on research into contemporary landscapes and marginal territories, will be the main focus. With Pietra · Via · Acqua, a presentation of the artistic residency created in summer 2026, he will guide the public along an itinerary shaped directly by the places encountered and the relationships formed during the time spent in the valley.

The artistic residencies

The residencies are the heart of ALT(R)O Festival.

Before the festival, the artists live in Valmalenco, walk its trails, meet those who live there, listen to stories, and observe the landscape without any immediate production goal. It is time devoted to listening, relationship, and deep knowledge of places.

From this experience, photographs, stories, poems, music, and performances are created that do not simply tell about a territory, but restore the bond built with it—turning the landscape into shared storytelling and memory.

During the festival, the public is invited to retrace the research places together with the authors, sharing the creative process and discovering how lived experience becomes a work.

The 2026 artistic residencies will give rise to new research paths, with the festival as their moment of public return, through walks, performances, encounters, and installations.

The goal of ALT(R)O Festival is to build, year after year, an author’s story meant to last. Each residency adds a new perspective on the territory, contributing to the creation of a cultural archive made of images, texts, music, and works that tell the valley from ever different viewpoints—nourishing a collective memory capable of accompanying its future.

At the end of the event, the Book of Residencies 2026 will be available, collecting texts, images, and documentation of the projects carried out, further enriching this shared resource.

Information

ALTROFESTIVAL VALMALENCO 2026 – Memorie di paesaggio

When

• September 19 and 20, 2026
• September 26 and 27, 2026
• October 3 and 4, 2026

All activities are free of charge.

The walks have limited capacity and require mandatory registration.

The performances and encounters listed as open to the public are free to attend until all available spots are filled.

For all appointments, suitable clothing for the mountain environment and hiking footwear are recommended.

In case of bad weather, the initiatives will still take place.

Any changes due to weather conditions that do not ensure participants’ safety will be communicated promptly.

Bookings and information

segreteria@altrofestivalvalmalenco.it

Press office – ELLECISTUDIO

Paola Carlotti 335 7059871