Our first International Natural Poetry Festival at Poggio ai Santi, 17–18 October 2026
Some ideas are born almost in silence, like a seed placed in the soil. We don’t know exactly what they will become, but we sense they are worth tending.
That was the spirit in which we imagined our first International Natural Poetry Festival, devoted to the theme The Seed – Origin and Future of Natural Poetry. On 17 and 18 October, here at Poggio ai Santi, the idea finally took shape: two days of encounters, conversations, poetry and sharing.
For us, nature is not just the landscape around us. It is something we live with every day, something we try to understand, respect and protect. For years we have been working to safeguard biodiversity and to preserve native plant varieties. The Festival grew partly from the wish to tell that story in a different language – the language of poetry, which has a way of bringing together different sensibilities, experiences and generations.
Words, landscape and biodiversity
Saturday afternoon opened with a literary café, the presentation of Mara Milena Anastasia’s artist’s book and the handing out of little seed bombs: a symbolic gesture, but also a very real invitation to sow.
With Antonio Perazzi, landscape architect and author of La repubblica autonoma di Piuca, we explored the relationship between people, nature and landscape. The conversation continued in the round table Landscape and Poetry with historian and territorial scholar Rossano Pazzagli, accompanied by poetry readings from Letizia Papi.
A particularly moving moment was the live link with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – the world’s seed bank, deep in the Arctic islands of Svalbard – with Professor Fuad Gaši. It reminded us how vital it is to preserve the genetic diversity of plants, especially at a time shaped by climate change. Every variety that disappears is a loss not only for agriculture, but for the natural and cultural heritage we have inherited.
Keeping an ancient seed alive is not nostalgia. It is an act of love for the future.
Ex Semine: where poetry meets the kitchen
The kitchen of our restaurant, Il Sale, wanted to be part of the story too.
Chef Michele Bisanzio created Ex Semine – “from the seed” – a tasting menu inspired entirely by seeds, explored through different ingredients, textures and techniques. From fermented pumpkin seeds to smoked sesame, from buckwheat to sunflower seeds, each course offered a new way of discovering what the land gives us.
It translated the Festival’s theme into flavours, aromas and textures, and reminded us that our relationship with nature also runs through what we choose to grow and bring to the table.
The words that took root
On Sunday, after a walk through the countryside of Poggio ai Santi, it was time for the awards of the International Natural Poetry Competition.
- First prize: Elisabetta Vigo, Vertigine del minimo – a poem about the immensity held inside a seed and the quiet strength of what is still to be born
- Second prize: Ilaria Amodio, Padri e figli
- Third prize: Basilio Brodu, Il brivido del domani
- International prize: Richard Demers, Faith
Special mentions went to Massimo Trozzi, Stefania Perro, Antonella Bertoli, Giulia Pansera, Antonio Stango, Marco Bonini and Ramona Retzkowski.
Download the official jury report (PDF, in Italian)
The poems could hardly have been more different, yet all of them found in the seed a metaphor for life, memory, waiting and transformation.
Perhaps the most beautiful part, though, was simply being together: hearing the poets read their own words, sharing emotions, and discovering how such a simple theme could give rise to such personal reflections.
What stays with us
In the days after the Festival we received messages that touched us deeply. Some told us they had found a renewed sense of trust and awareness; others spoke of the joy of meeting people who share a love of nature and poetry. Many said they hoped to meet again.
“Sunday’s gathering was like a caress – it gave me back my trust and a renewed awareness.” – Ilaria
“The sowing has begun, and our care will sustain it. We will be water, light, fertile soil and a gentle wind, through our words and our gestures.” – Mara
What struck us most was finding, in their words, the very motto we had chosen for this first edition:
Every word is a seed, and every seed can become a forest.
Maybe that is the deepest meaning of the Festival: to create a space where words can meet, spark new thoughts and keep on growing long after the event is over.
We are grateful to everyone who took part – to the poets who entrusted us with their verses, to the speakers who shared their knowledge and ideas, and to all those who helped bring these days to life with enthusiasm and care. And to those who couldn’t be with us, we hope this short account carries at least a little of the atmosphere we shared.
The first seed has been planted. Now we can’t wait to see what kind of forest will grow.
And the next seed?
We are already working on the second International Natural Poetry Festival, which will take place at Poggio ai Santi on the third weekend of November 2027: Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 November.
The new theme will be “Weeds” – those wild plants that grow where we never invited them, and that we often try to get rid of without really knowing them. Yet behind what we call a weed lie extraordinary powers of adaptation and resilience, and a whole world of biodiversity waiting to be discovered. It is a new invitation to change how we look at things, to find beauty and meaning where we least expect them – and, of course, to let poetry inspire us.
We hope to welcome you here, to keep growing our forest of words together.
Francesca and the whole Poggio ai Santi team