Terre di Pace: a Festival of Faiths, Cultures, and Dialogue

From October 29 to November 2, an international event bringing together communities, cultures, and generations through art, spirituality, and music.

In a world marked by new wars and by borders once again rising, Gorizia and Nova Gorica have chosen to become a laboratory of peace — not to forget their frontier past, but to transform it into a place of encounter, listening, and shared creation. At the heart of the European Capital of Culture 2025, Terre di Pace brings together communities, faiths, and generations in an interfaith forum with round tables and performances. The festival shows how dialogue – nurtured before conflicts arise – remains the most powerful form of prevention and resistance to war. It offers an opportunity to affirm that peace is not the absence of conflict, but a daily practice of recognition, understanding, and shared responsibility: the only path capable of transforming the world’s wounds into a different future.

From Wednesday 29 October to Sunday 2 November, the Terre di Pace laboratory will animate the city with numerous initiatives, leading to the drafting of the “Gorizia Manifesto for Dialogue and Peace”. The Opening Forum will take place on Wednesday 29 October at 8.30 p.m. at the Auditorium della Cultura Friulana (Via Roma 23, Gorizia), featuring guest of honour Paolo Mieli, journalist and essayist, with the inaugural lecture “The Role of Religions in the Wars of Yesterday and Today”.

Programme

Thursday 23 October, 11.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m., Galleria Tullio Crali
Prefestival: opening of the exhibition “The Legacy of Life – Climate Is a Choice, Let’s Save the Future”, promoted by the Be the Hope Foundation and the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai.

Wednesday 29 October
10.00 a.m. at Piazzale Casa Rossa – “Planting Roots of Peace”: opening ceremony of the Festival with the planting of the Olive Tree of Peace.
11.00 a.m. at Piazzale Casa Rossa – “A Round Dance for Peace”: flashmob organised with local schools.
8.30 p.m. at Auditorium della Cultura Friulana – “The Role of Religions in the Wars of Yesterday and Today”: inaugural lecture by Paolo Mieli, between memory, current affairs, and perspectives on peace.

Thursday 30 October 
3.00 p.m. at Sala Dora Bassi – “Everyday Ecologies: Small Gestures, Great Changes”: new alliances between faiths, civil society and institutions to strengthen ecological commitment. Speakers: Francesco Tassone, Babacar Diop, Franco Rizzi, Pastor Jens Hansen, Rabbi Ariel Haddad.
6.00 p.m. at Sala Dora Bassi – “Women on Equal Ground: Lands, Feminine Plural”: from international politics to grassroots movements, women’s and men’s voices intertwine to redraw the boundaries of peace and sustainability. With Sandra Mazzolini, Milouda Benserhire, Maria Teresa Catucci, Pastor Mirella Manocchio, Ilaria Myr. Moderator: Renata Kodijlia, University of Udine.
9.00 p.m. at Auditorium della Cultura Friulana – “Love’s Kamikaze”: written by Mario Moretti and directed by Claudio Boccaccini. A powerful play exploring the relationship between Naomi, an Israeli woman, and Abdel, a Palestinian man. Against the backdrop of Middle Eastern tensions, their story becomes a metaphor for reconciliation and the search for a shared future.

Friday 31 October
9.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m. – “A Walk Through the Religious History of Gorizia”: with historian Vanni Feresin, discovering sacred places that have shaped the city’s religious and cultural heritage.
11.00 a.m. at Sala Dora Bassi – “The Contested Environment: Drought, Water Wars, Climate Migration”: natural resources as both a source of conflict and a tool for cooperation. Speakers: Gaetano Sabetta, Shaikh Jamuluddin Mauro Ballabio, Matteo Marsili. Moderator: Ivan Bianchi, Director of Il Goriziano. Followed by: “Energy in Harmony with the Environment”, presented by ENEL Italia S.p.A.
5.00 p.m. at Sala Dora Bassi – “Beyond Fractures: How Communities Can Overcome Polarisation”: the Gorizia experience as a model for peace built from the ground up. Author Roberta Cumin in conversation with journalist Patrizia Artico.
6.00 p.m. at Sala Dora Bassi – “Christianity and Islam: Towards Mutual Understanding”: presentation of the book and discussion between author Santi Grasso and Shaikh Jamuluddin Mauro Ballabio. 
8.30 p.m. at Palazzo De Grazia – “Borderless Singing”: an evocative musical journey with the Choir of the Korean Methodist Church of Rome, blending harmonies and emotions in a choral celebration of unity.

Saturday 1 November
3.00 p.m. at Sala Dora Bassi – “Metamorphosis”: animated feature film by Michele Fasano. A poetic journey through myth, reality and collective memory, inspired by the Sufi poem "The Conference of the Birds". Combining animation, documentary and archive images, the film becomes a visual and spiritual reflection on transformation, love and peace.
6.00 p.m. at Sala Dora Bassi – “One Planet, Many Lands, Many Voices”: only through dialogue can the world’s mosaic come together again. With Don Santi Grasso, Shaikh Jamuluddin Mauro Ballabio, Amerigo Zanetti, Rabbi Alexander Elihau Meloni. Moderator: Patrizia Artico, Councillor for GO!2025, City of Gorizia.
8.30 p.m. at Teatro Verdi – “A Bridge Between Faiths”: ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes. An entrancing journey of music and dance, where rhythm and movement create an extraordinary sensory experience. Led by Maestro Sadreddin Özçimi, with renowned musicians and singer Ahmet Şahin, the Semazen transform the stage into a whirl of harmony and grace.

Sunday 2 November
10.30 a.m. at Teatro Verdi – “Nathan the Wise”: performed by La Compagnia del Pane, the Enlightenment masterpiece by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing set in Crusader-era Jerusalem. A timeless drama that questions monotheistic religions and celebrates the wisdom of dialogue.
5.00 p.m. at Auditorium della Cultura Friulana – “The Other Future: Interfaith Dialogue as a Tool for Peace”. Speakers: Mons. Flavio Pace, Sheykh Ibrahim Gabriele Iungo, Pastor Dorothea Müller, Anne-Marie Tschalbod, Haim Baharier, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera. Moderator: Lucia Bellaspiga, journalist (Avvenire).
6.30 p.m. at Auditorium della Cultura Friulana – “Beyond Borders, the Future”: presentation and signing of the “Gorizia Manifesto for Dialogue and Peace” and national premiere of the video “Imagine All the People”, produced by the Gorizia Secondary Schools Network.
9.00 p.m. at Teatro Verdi – “Sounds of Fraternity: Concert for Peace”. The Gen Rosso ensemble brings together rhythm, light and emotion in a mosaic of sounds and voices from four continents. Blending pop-rock energy with world music influences, the concert takes the audience on a journey of hope, fraternity and shared humanity.

All events are free of charge.
Organised by the City of Gorizia, in collaboration with the Christian-Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Methodist-Christian communities.