401° Festino di Santa Rosalia
2025Large-scale cultural events
ODD Agency provides artistic direction and co-production for a celebration of Palermo’s beauty, faith and community. Contemporary artistic approaches and new forms of participation bring fresh life to the city’s oldest ritual.
- Client
- City of Palermo
- Location
- Palermo, historic centre
- Area
- Large-scale cultural events
- ODD’s contribution
- Artistic direction and co-production
- Project outcome
- A shared story unfolding at each stop along a route through the historic centre.
Awards
BEA Italia 2025
- Gold · Cultural Event
- Bronze · Celebration/Anniversary
400°+1 Festino di Santa Rosalia. ODD Agency and Terzo Millennio Progetti Artistici.
The award on the BEA websiteInnovation and artistic vision
This edition celebrated a living, essential beauty rooted in the city’s history and expressed through contemporary art: monumental video mapping, original dramatic writing, immersive sound design, dance and music, temporary installations and new stage technologies. Inspired by the Ship of Fools, the float doubled as a theatre. It was both a powerful visual symbol and a practical stage, keeping the performances fully visible throughout the route.
A FESTINO FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
The event unfolded across five main stops, with a sixth added for the first time. Each combined theatre, choreography, music and architectural projections to create moments of powerful emotion. More than 100 artists, technicians, performers, set designers, lighting designers, stage crew, actors, musicians, writers and designers took part, alongside companies and other cultural industry professionals. The credits reflect the breadth of Palermo’s creative talent, much of it recognised nationally and internationally. The 400°+1 Festino set a new standard for the event’s artistic and technical production, combining meticulous organisation with creative freedom. By bringing different media together, it offered audiences an immersive, poetic experience with broad popular appeal. At its heart was a belief in shared beauty: something visible, alive and lasting.
