Teatri Riflessi is a project that promotes the performing arts, supporting emerging creativity and bringing a wide audience, particularly of non-theatre-goers, closer to contemporary performing arts. It places the territory and its communities at the centre, generating cultural, economic, and social impact.
The project brings numerous national and international voices from the dance and theatre world to Mt. Etna, creating a connection between the Etna-Ionian area and the global contemporary scene.
Teatri Riflessi aims to lift the curtain on the blossoming of new artistic impulses, fostering the exchange of ideas, practices, and models, and encouraging reflection on how the arts can be collectively experienced by reimagining the spaces where they occur.
The project unfolds through diverse initiatives: dance and theatre programmes in both theatrical and non-traditional venues, an international competition focused on short performances, artist residencies, initiatives aimed at fostering emerging creativity, and audience development programmes for different age groups.
Since its first edition in 2009, Teatri Riflessi has combined the immediacy of contemporary languages with the specificity of the territory, promoting a reflection on the artistic, cultural, and social landscape in unconventional venues and contexts.
The annual project opens to the public mainly in spring, summer, and autumn. In April, artist residencies begin, alongside the construction of spaces and methods for community dialogue and interaction. At its core, Teatri Riflessi Festival, held in July, focuses on internationalising the local area and exposing communities to diverse aesthetics and languages. Between October and November, Riflessi d’Autunno travels through Eastern Sicily, from Etna to the Ionian coast, engaging new audiences and spreading activities to new municipalities.
In 2024, the festival offered 50 free events to 3,000+ spectators:
40 artists from around the world, 30 national and international theatre and festival directors, journalists and critics, 70 local cultural operators, 30 young jurors, 10 European volunteers, and 12 volunteers and interns from the University of Catania and Messina.
Over 88% of the project’s budget was directly spent in the region, benefiting individuals and businesses based in Sicily. Of this, more than 12% was allocated to hospitality and catering services in Zafferana, and 21% supported 10 cultural professionals under the age of 35, and 6 young Sicilian artists.
Bringing artists, professionals, and critics to Mt. Etna means investing in the region and helping to establish it not only as an exceptional tourist destination, but also as a professional hub for the performing arts — restoring centrality to what is often considered a peripheral area.
Teatri Riflessi has received the EFFE Label, Europe’s quality stamp for remarkable arts festivals showing their engagement in the field of the arts, community involvement and international openness.
EFFE is an initiative of the European Association of Festivals supported by the European Commission and Parliament.
