The 18th edition of the “Week of Classical Culture” returns to Lovere from 20 to 30 March 2025, a high-level event that, like every year, will place the town of Lovere at the centre of the regional cultural scene with shows, conversations, meetings and moments of study.

The Week of Classical Culture is an event dedicated to young people, in which high school students are given a voice through theatrical performances that celebrate classical culture.

The Week of Classical Culture is certainly one of the most important cultural events in Sebino. Promoted by the collaboration between the Decio Celeri High School, the Municipality of Lovere, the Tadini Academy, the Cultural Association Compagnia Teatrale Olive a pArte and the Cinema Teatro Crystal.
The festival seeks to decline the two fundamental aspects of the school-theatre relationship, namely bringing theatre to schools and bringing schools to the theatre. For this reason, the festival is developed on two levels: in the mornings, schools in Lovere and the surrounding area can participate in high-level professional shows, designed to be specific to the age of the spectators and linked as much as possible to their educational paths; in the evenings, the actual Festival of Theater in the School takes place, in which, night after night, schools from all over Italy take turns on the stage of the Crystal Theater in Lovere.

The link between the festival and the territory is made evident by the presence of sponsors, including mainly the Municipality of Rogno, the Municipality of Costa Volpino and the Municipality of Pisogne, which contribute to the realization of the Week. The entire event also takes place with the patronage of AGITA Teatro and in collaboration with the cultural association Olive a pArte, Accademia Tadini and Teatro Crystal.

Among the evening shows that schools will be able to attend are: “The Taming of the Shrew” performed by the students of the Decio Celeri Art High School in Lovere, ”Nell’abisso di Dioniso” performed by the students of the Massimiliano Massimi High School in Rome, “Antigone” staged by the students of the Machiavelli High School in Pioltello, “Miles Gloriosus” performed by the students of the Decio Celeri Scientific High School in Lovere, “Romeo and Juliet” performed by the Calini Scientific High School in Brescia, “Lysextrata” by the Pellegrino-Rossi Classical High School in Massa Carrara, “Eschatiá. La terra di nessuno” by the Pepe Calamo Classical High School in Ostuni, and finally “Trachinie” performed by the fourth-grade students of the Decio Celeri Classical High School in Lovere.

What the Week offers, unlike many other theater festivals, is the care with which the guest schools are accompanied. In fact, young actors have the opportunity to perform and rehearse on a real stage, followed by a professional technician. In addition, the organization offers them, thanks to the valuable collaboration with the Tadini Academy, excellent cultural visits and thanks to the collaboration with the Olive a pArte cultural association, it offers a personalized Escape City experience to learn about the cultural and natural offerings of the area through a first-hand activity.

Another peculiarity of the event is that for eleven years now its communication has been completely managed by the students, under the guidance of the Olive a pArte Theater Association. The communication group manages the pages on the main social networks (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Youtube), distributes the paper material, produces the playbills for the individual shows, presents the evenings and documents every moment with photos and videos. For eleven years this activity has been recognized by the high school center as a School-Work alternation activity or PCTO if you like. This year, 26 high school and university students are participating in the communication group.

As you can see, the heart of the festival is the students, whether they are spectators, actors or organizers. This year, in the eighteenth edition of the Week of Classical Culture, 8 school groups from all over Italy will take turns on the stage of the Crystal: in addition to the schools of Lovere, there will be students from Brescia, Pioltello (MI), Massa, Rome and Ostuni (BR).

Cover photo taken from the Facebook page of the 2024 edition event