Taobuk and Enit

Taormina and Germany literature and Grand Tour, chronicles of a vocation for internationalisation ante litteram. Corifeo was Wolfang Goethe, who was born in the German city on the Main and said of the Pearl of the Ionian Sea ‘the greatest masterpiece of art and culture’.

A tendency embodied by Taobuk that, through world-class guests, Nobel Prize winners and scientists, contributes to the internationalisation of Italy, fully responding to the mission of Enit, which, not by chance, has duplicated and corroborated the collaboration with the literary festival now in its 13th edition, from 15 to 19 June.

Happy coincidence, 2023 is the year in which Italy will be guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. A space in which Sicily aspires to play a leading role on the European stage, just as it did at the Paris Book Festival.

‘Italy, without Sicily,’ said the German poet, ‘leaves no image in the spirit. It is in Sicily that one finds the key to everything’. And it is from this distant departure in the past that the current ability of the island, and of Taormina, to impose itself on the international cultural scene unfolds.

There is an image of Sicily and Italy that stands the test of time, transforming itself into the collective imagination and becoming an engine of cultural tourism. It is the image entrusted to art, literature and cinema, a powerful snapshot capable of conveying Italy’s millenary history beyond national borders, also thanks to the participation in major international cultural events – from Gorizia European Capital of Culture 2025 to Agrigento Capital of Culture, to the Frankfurt Buchmesse – true showcases of Italy abroad, powerful sounding boards capable of promoting the country system, establishing a ‘brand’ known throughout the world, evocative of art, culture and beauty.

Taobuk, a prestigious showcase of the Italian spirit and of Sicily’s tangible and intangible heritage, promotes an increase in the Italian tourist offer, in the cultural segment, espousing the mission of Enit (the Italian Tourist Board) to support Italy’s tourist image in the world. An aim that the festival has pursued and achieved through the search for foreign partnerships, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean context, through an innovative formula open to dialogue between music, theatre, words, and dance that celebrates the universal language of the arts and excellence, with a view to collaboration with public and private institutions.

A glance towards internationality rooted in the genius loci of Taormina, a millennial melting pot of cultures, this is the winning alchemy of Taobuk.