Italian Photography Festival 2026: 'Rituals and Visions' in Casentino

When: 12 June – 6 September 2026 • Where: Bibbiena, Poppi, Pratovecchio Stia (Casentino, Italy)

The 2026 edition of the Italian Photography Festival offers an extensive program dedicated to national photography, aiming to showcase established authors alongside emerging talents. The festival unfolds across multiple venues in Casentino and combines exhibitions, education, production and public events.

Edition theme

This year’s theme, “Rituals and Visions. Between spiritual and material”, examines contemporary spirituality and the ways the sacred appears today: communal rites and personal gestures, surviving pagan practices, memory, the body and the tensions between matter and transcendence. The theme also resonates with the eighth centenary of Saint Francis of Assisi’s death.

Main exhibition and program

The centerpiece exhibition, “Body to Body. Visions in dialogue on the sacred”, curated by Denis Curti, is presented at CIFA – Italian Center for Author Photography in Bibbiena. It brings together 21 photographers across 10 thematic confrontations that probe different facets of the contemporary sacred: divine aspiration, the sacred-profane boundary, body as revelation, atonement, meditative landscapes, magic, light and spiritual journeys.

Alongside the central show, the festival hosts the Proposals section: autonomous projects expanding the edition’s theme through reports, studies on religious communities and ritual practices, anthropological perspectives and works addressing vocation, body and institutional dissent.

Artists and highlights

• Renowned photographers present contrasting approaches to representing the sacred.
• Dedicated programs for young authors: portfolio reviews, masterclasses and site-specific production paths.
• Distributed events: talks, portfolio readings and initiatives that engage with the local territory.

Visitor information

The festival functions as an integrated platform for research, production, education and publishing. Both visitors and professionals will find large-scale curatorial projects and community-oriented initiatives that enhance Italy’s photographic heritage.

Practical tip: check opening hours and the schedules of talks and masterclasses for each venue; many activities are spread across Bibbiena, Poppi and Pratovecchio Stia.