402° Festino di Santa Rosalia
2026Large-scale cultural events
ODD Agency returns as artistic director and co-producer of one of Italy’s most important cultural and performance events: a centuries-old ritual that turns Palermo into an international stage every year. The project reinterprets a heritage of faith, art and culture through contemporary forms of expression, renewing its imagery and extending its significance far beyond the city. This edition’s central theme weaves together two eras — the Norman age and the story of Saint Rosalia — as a single journey from conflict to coexistence, from solitude to belonging to a community.
- Client
- City of Palermo
- Location
- Palermo, historic centre
- Edition
- 2026
- ODD’s contribution
- Artistic direction and co-production
- Project outcome
- An urban celebration bringing together storytelling, performance and projections.
Innovation and artistic vision
This edition celebrated a living sense of beauty rooted in the city’s history and expressed through contemporary art: monumental video mapping on Palazzo Reale and the Baroque façades of Quattro Canti, an original three-act narrative, live music, choreography, drone swarms and newly developed stage technology. Architect Mario Cucinella’s triumphal float was a powerful visual symbol: a living botanical garden rising upwards, inspired by the Genoardo and Arab-Norman gardens. It also played a central role in the story, revealing Filippo Sapienza’s new statue of Saint Rosalia, surrounded by around 300 glowing butterflies.
FROM DRAMA COMES RITUAL, FROM RITUAL COMES COMMUNITY
The event unfolded across five traditional stops along the Cassaro — Palazzo dei Normanni, the Cathedral, Quattro Canti, Porta Felice and Foro Italico — preceded by a surprise opening kept secret until the evening itself. Each stop combined theatrical performance, choreography, live music, architectural projections and moments of powerful emotion, culminating in the collective cry ‘Long live Palermo and Saint Rosalia’ at Quattro Canti. More than 300 artists, technicians, performers, set designers, lighting designers, stage crew, actors, musicians, writers and designers, alongside companies and cultural industry professionals, took part in the production. The credits form a map of Palermo’s creative expertise, much of it recognised nationally and internationally.
