Festando la Carta, part of Fabriano Carta è Cultura
Fabriano Carta è Cultura reaches its 4th edition from 9 to 13 September 2026, under the patronage of the City of Fabriano, the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism and the Marche Region. Five days weaving together art, music, performance, cinema, words, history and future around a defining thread: paper, the material at the heart of the city’s identity. Within the programme is Festando la Carta, a showcase connecting artistic practice with the UNESCO Creative Cities network, of which Fabriano is a member.
Exhibition period: 9–26 September 2026
Opening and meeting days: 9–13 September 2026
Venue: Church of Santa Maria del Gonfalone, Fabriano
Organiser: City of Fabriano, in coordination with the UNESCO Creative Cities network and the Fondazione Ermanno Casoli.
The work on show
I’m showing “You and Me, Playing Tag” (year 2026, 56x38cm), a watercolour that came out of a winter afternoon on Mondello beach. I run ahead, my son — six years old at the time — chases after me: we’re playing tag, one of those moments where the game is the only thing that matters. The beach is nearly empty. In the background, two figures sit wrapped up, taking in what warmth a winter sun offers. The sea is a flat, pale line behind us.
A few thin washes of earth and ochre for the sand, a sky that fades toward the horizon without ever saturating, our movement caught mid-way — me about to turn, him about to catch up.
The context
Showing work within Festando la Carta means placing paper-based work at the centre of an event built around a material Fabriano has worked with, as craft, for centuries — long before it became a theme. Santa Maria del Gonfalone, the exhibition venue, sits within a city that has long linked its manufacturing identity — the paper mill, the tradition of handmade paper — to a broader cultural conversation, the one carried by the UNESCO Creative Cities network.
Thank you to inArteFabriano, who selected this piece for the exhibition.