'No time no space - Etna Arts Fest' celebrates Franco Battiato. From 16 al 18 May three days of music, Poetry and spirituality between Milo and Riposto

The Center for Permanent Gravity Studies presents 'Etna Arts Fest – No Time No Space. Franco Battiato's path as a bridge between earth and sky', first recognized as Special Project 2025 from Ministry of Culture and sponsored by the Sicilian Region and the Municipalities of Milo and Riposto. The event, whose artistic direction is entrusted to Fiorella Nozzetti, president of the Study Center, it is a profound homage, spiritual and creative a Franco Battiato, in the territory in which he chose to live and where he found his genius of the place.

The Festival will take place from 16 al 18 The exhibition will be open to the public from, four years after his death, precisely in those places – Milo and Riposto – symbolic places of the Sicilian artist, which nourished his art and his inner research. The project, which intertwines memory and future, roots and vision, aims to continue the artist's journey, exploring the intersections between art, spirituality and awareness, through theatrical performances, concerts, experiential meetings and seminars, and giving back to the public the deepest sense of Battiato's secular spirituality: the upward tension, inner research, overcoming the boundaries between genres and disciplines. A unique festival, where Etna becomes a stage, silence and vision. All events are free.

THE FESTIVAL DAY BY DAY

The Festival will open Friday 16 The exhibition will be open to the public from, at ore 11, a Riposto, with the naming ceremony of the square in the 'Scariceddu' neighborhood after Franco Battiato, where the artist was born on 23 March 1945. In the afternoon, The exhibition will be open to the public from 14.00, at the Cav. Service Center. Salvatore Arcidiacono of Milo, the spiritual journey will begin with the SUFI experiential seminar-performance Sohbat and Dikr 'The Way of Love' (limited number of registrations), conducted by the master Sheykh Hassan Dyck, representative for Europe of the Sufi Brotherhood Tariqa Naqshbandia Haqqania, which will introduce participants to meditation and mindfulness practices.

At 17.00, in Piazza Belvedere Giovanni d'Aragona, the actor Sandro Vergato will propose the showAnimate life to give life to the soul'. A performance between metaphors, parallel, paroxysms, stigmatizations, irony and personal experiences to arrive at the therapeutic lightness of liberating laughter.

To close the first day, The exhibition will be open to the public from 21.00, always in Piazza Belvedere Giovanni d'Aragona the theatrical and musical show Like green blades of grass will make by and with Stefano Pio, tribute to the extraordinary partnership between Franco Battiato and Right Pio, the violinist composer who collaborated with Battiato from The Era of the White Boar to The Master's Voice. Also on stage are the actresses Lucia Sardo and Ketty Governali. Music by Franco Battiato and Giusto Pio in the original arrangements. On keyboards Filippo Destrieri, on vocals Enrico Masiero and Elvira Cadorin, Alberto Grossi on the piano, Mauro Roveri on the cello, Maddalena Main on violin, with the String Quintet 'Sulle Corde di Aries'.

The day of Saturday 17 The exhibition will be open to the public from it will open again at the Cav Service Center. Salvatore Arcidiacono with the SUFI experiential seminar-performance Sohbat and Dikr (limited number of registrations), The exhibition will be open to the public from 9.30 The exhibition will be open to the public from 15.00.

In the afternoon, The exhibition will be open to the public from 15.30, in the square in Milo, the theatrical talk show will be stagedI would have liked to tell you, conducted by Fabio Bagnasco, with the participation of Red Ronnie, Susy Blady, Morgan, and directed by Michele Micheletti e Leonardo Pagni (CO- Science). Anecdotal stories about Franco Battiato will alternate with the viewing of unpublished and known films of interviews and moments of daily life and the listening of songs in a fun and reflective key.

At 19.15, always in Piazza Belvedere in Milo, Fiorella Nozzetti will present the edition 2026 dell’Etna Art Fest, in the presence of the mayors of Milo Alfio Cosentino and Riposto Davide Vasta. The delivery of the 'Giusto Pio' plaque is expected.

The will be, at 21.00, the show'Parallel Lives – Codes of existential geometries, in Piazza Belvedere, will lead the audience on a journey between music and poetry, curated by Marina Valensise under the supervision of Davide Livermore Gisella Calì e Sandro Vergato, Battiato's music, performed by Stefano Pio, Filippo Destrieri, and the participation of Alberto Grossi, on the piano, Enrico Masiero and Elvira Cadorin, to the voice, Mauro Roveri, on the cello, and Maddalena Main, on the violin. Directed by Gisella Calì.

Sunday 18 The exhibition will be open to the public from, final day of the festival, it will open at 7.00, in Piazza Belvedere in Milo, with a moment of meditation and prayer in music in memory of Battiato. At 10.00, still in Piazza Belvedere, we will continue with a concert of Persian classical music with Abdolkarim Alishahiqomi, to music and voice, and the dancer Grazia Cernuto will accompany the audience on a sonic journey between East and West. At 10.30, at the Cav. Service Center. Archdeacon of Milo, the presentation of the book will be heldA look from the bridge from Stefano Pio, conducted by director Fabio Bagnasco, with readings entrusted to Daniela Sassi e Michele Micheletti.

In the afternoon, at 15.00, in Piazza Belvedere, Jamaluddin Ballabio (representative for Italy of the Tariqa Naqshbandi), will introduce the spiritual meaning of the famous song 'The Shadow of the Light. It will then take placeThe caravan of love – sow, Sufi event with the master Sheykh Hassan Dyck, whirling dervish dancers and musical ensemble of live Sufi musicians.

At 18.00, the group Co-Science, with Leonardo Pagni, Michele Micheletti, Except Bonanno, Carlo De Toni, Valeria Volpi and Adalgisa Vavassori, will propose the show-seminarI am', inspired by the teachings of Gurdjieff and of sacred science, with an immersive theatrical experience with music by Franco Battiato.

The Festival will close at 21.00 in Piazza Franco Battiato in Riposto, in the artist's native neighborhood, with the concerto “No Time No Space”, musical performance of Battiato's works by Filippo Destrieri, the artist's historic keyboard player, with the participation of Stefano Pio.

If you want to visit Milo and Riposto you can choose to spend a comfortable stay in Villa Maria. Our b&b is a little more than a little further away from the small piedmont municipality 10 minutes by car and from Riposto a few minutes on foot.