Travel festivals to follow in 2026: five events to discover an Italy

Travel festivals to follow in 2026

Travel as storytelling and shared experience: five Italian festivals in 2026 that turn routes, films and meetings into occasions for discovery and community.

• Trento Film Festival: Trento — 24 April – 3 May 2026. A long-established European event focused on mountains, exploration and adventure, known for documentary screenings and authentic territorial stories.
• IT.A.CÀ – Festival of Responsible Tourism: various cities (including Bologna, Milan, Naples) — May – November 2026 (staged calendar). A dispersed festival centered on sustainability, local communities and tourism practices that respect places and people.
• UlisseFest: Genoa — 10 – 12 July 2026. Organized with Lonely Planet, it brings travelers, writers and photographers together with a contemporary, accessible approach.
• BAM! – Bicycle Adventure Meeting: Villa Contarini (Piazzola sul Brenta) — 5 – 7 June 2026. Focused on bike travel, it gathers cyclists and storytellers around the slow-travel ethos.
• Festival dei Cammini di Francesco: Umbria and Lazio (Sansepolcro and other locations) — 11 April – 31 May 2026. Combines walking routes, excursions and cultural events along paths that fuse pilgrimage and territorial narrative.

What to expect: beyond screenings and talks, these festivals offer guided walks, workshops, book presentations and photography exhibitions. Participants are active: they walk, meet authors and photographers, and help build local networks and more mindful ways of traveling.