From 15 to 19 June 2023 Taormina will be venue – for the thirteenth year – of one of the most eagerly awaited cultural events: the Taobuk Festival – SeeSicily. The Festival, among the most important literary festivals in Europe and whose theme this year is ‘Freedoms’, has once again been included in the calendar of events of great tourist appeal adopted by the Sicilian Region among those dedicated to literature, cinema, geopolitics, art and music.
On Saturday 17 June, Taobuk 2023 will climax with the special Gala Evening broadcast by RAI1, where special guests will attend: French Nobel Literature Prize winner Annie Ernaux, Iranian writer Azar Nafisi, American Joyce Carol Oates, American essayist and populariser David Quammen and international star David Garrett, who will perform with the orchestra of Catania’s Teatro Massimo Bellini.
Over the past few weeks, The Festival has played a key role in two pivotal events of the tourism sector – the International Tourism Exchange in Milan and the Berlin Tourism Fair – promoting Sicily as a first-choice tourist destination, with its cities of art, its food and wine excellences, its unspoilt beaches and its millenary culture.
Indeed, the Sicilian Region has renewed and strengthened its collaboration with the festival, which from this year adopts the new name with the inclusion of the ‘See Sicily’ programme.
The events scheduled for April and included in the Programme are the Holy Week in Enna, Caltanissetta and Trapani. Among the events from May to August, in addition to the Taobuk Festival – SeeSicily, are: the classical plays of Syracuse, the 107th Targa Florio, the Mediterranean Horse Fair, the Taormina Film Fest, the Orestiadi of Gibellina, the Sicilia Jazz Festival, the feast of San Giorgio in Ragusa and that of San Calogero in Agrigento, the Festino of Santa Rosalia in Palermo and the feast of the Vara in Messina. Between September and December, the Cous Cous Fest, the Bellini International Context, the Week of Holy Music in Monreale, Vie dei Tesori, Coppa degli Assi, Targa Florio Classica, and the feast of Santa Lucia in Syracuse.
As the Tourism, Sport and Entertainment Councillor Elvira Amata explains, the programme ‘is an instrument of key importance that constitutes the essential prerequisite for the councillor’s planning and, more generally, for the promotion of tourism. We will continue to work towards the 2024 and 2025 programme, identifying the events to be included through a special public notice’.
