Who said that an economist can’t go on stage and talk to an audience about pop music and a cartoonist give a lecture on science fiction? We all have topics that we are passionate about, in which we are very knowledgeable, beyond work and professional specializations; in Roccella Jonica they invented a festival that starts right here: giving space to the unsuspected passions of big names on the Italian cultural scene.
The “Festival of the topic at will”, directed by the journalist and voice of Radio 2 Thomas Labate and produced by Elastica, is promoted by the Municipality of Roccella Jonica which will launch its preview on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th October at the former Convent of the Minims: a taste in two evenings, with free entry, of what awaits the public in June 2025 with the first edition of the event, which will be organized over three full days of events.
It starts on Friday 25 October at 6pm with Carlo Cottarelli and a dialogue on “Popular music”, where a surprise musical guest will also speak. The economist explains the choice of his “topic of choice”: “Apart from the economy and Inter, so-called “light” music is one of the things that interest me the most. I love to sing accompanied – badly – with the guitar and I’m like a juke box: I play a bit of everything, especially Italian singer-songwriters.”
It continues on Saturday 26 October again at 6pm with Makkox and “Lascienza”. Amedeo Balbi, astrophysicist and science communicator, will be in conversation with the illustrator and cartoonist about this passion of his. “I chose science fiction because I like it: it seems like a coherent motivation for a festival dedicated to a ‘topic of your choice’. If the event had been dedicated to ‘something you hate’ I would definitely have chosen politics” jokes Makkox.
“In an era in which everything is focused on hyper specialization, what could be more beautiful than rediscovering the old “theme of choice”? This is how the idea of proposing to great experts in their fields was born – Cottarelli in economy, Makkox in design – to express themselves not in what is their specialty, but in a theme of their choice – explain the organizers – Today everyone redesigns their horizons on the basis of the continuous questioning that we have from life and social media: we believe it is nice and also a little liberating to rediscover the old dear question which – as the really good professors taught – was the most difficult of questions, the one that gave the possibility of expressing oneself and being evaluated in the best possible way”.
Entrance to the two preview evenings of the “Festival of the topic of pleasure” is free, upon reservation.