At the heart of every suburb, there is a rich fabric of stories and experiences flowing through the bodies of those inhabiting them. “Quartieri di Vita. Life infected with social Theatre!”, the Festival of education and social theatre organised by the Fondazione Campania dei Festival, is a project that gives voice through theatre to the narratives woven into challenging areas and celebrates the lives of the communities living in them.

Conceived in 2017 by Ruggero Cappuccio, artistic director of the Fondazione Campania dei Festival, since 2021 Quartieri di Vita has evolved into an international project which brings together European artists involved in performing arts oriented towards the non-profit sector to stage creative residencies in vulnerable social contexts, together with cultural associations and theatre companies committed in marginal areas and contexts of the Campania region.

For its third international edition, Quartieri di Vita practices once again accessibility to culture, by involving all the provinces and some suburban areas of the Campania region in a territorial and European cooperation project that will foster good practices of dialogue, confrontation, and creative exchange between international guests and local professionals in the social theatre field.

As a matter of fact, social and documentary theatre plays a fundamental role in promoting emotional and relational well-being; it fosters the empowerment and creative expression of its participants and contributes to local inclusion by encouraging the building of new relationships within communities.

In November and December 2023, 9 artists coming from 8 European countries (Czech Republic, Romania, Portugal, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Flanders, and Austria) will co-direct with 9 local directors theatre training workshops targeted at 80 participants divided into 8 working groups and in the following locations: Naples, Benevento, Avellino, Caserta, and Salerno.

Participants will thus have the chance to share their own experiences within the workshops and participate in all stages of the creative process, from the initial creation to the final performance, so as to widen the project's positive and tangible impact on the community in terms of growth, awareness and solidarity action.

The 2023 edition of Quartieri di Vita is in partnership with Czech Centre Rome and Embassy of Czech Republic in Rome; Embassy of Portugal in Rome and Camões I.P.; Lithuanian Cultural Institute in Rome and Lithuanian Theatre Information Center; Polish Institute in Rome; Goethe-Institut Naples and the German Embassy in Rome; Flanders State of the Art; Romanian Academy in Rome-Romanian Cultural Institute; Austrian Cultural Forum Rome, in collaboration with the Representation in Italy of the European Commission.

The outcome of the workshop will be presented specifically for 8 open rehearsals, scheduled between the 30^th of November and the 3^rd of December 2023, in the venues of the Campania region that hosted the artistic residencies.

The 2023 edition of Quartieri di Vita is funded by the Campania Region and it is supported by Italian Ministry of Culture
(considered as its Special Project in 2022 and 2023), in partnership with EUNIC - European Union National Institutes for Culture in Rome and Naples and is dedicated to Italian writer Italo Calvino, in celebration of the centenary of his birth.

On the 3^rd of December 2023, there will also be an open conference on the work of Calvino himself, one of the most translated and best-known Italians abroad for works exploring human nature with the aim of capturing its vital essence, the dynamics of interaction between individuals, and the reciprocal connections between art, storytelling, and community. With this aim in mind, the conference will also host the voices and testimonies of all the artists involved in this edition, who will be able to talk about their work and participate in a shared discussion on the international legacy of one of the 20^th century's greatest writers.

Quartieri di vita is a platform that brings together the objectives of cultural diplomacy and artistic networking in order to enhance, together with the stories of local communities, the professionalism of artists relying on community theatre as a tool for sharing and active participation, and the work of those local associations that represent a cultural stronghold in Campania.