2023 · 2024 · 2025
TROPEArte Plein Air Festival
Three Octobers. 175 artists. Sixteen countries. No jury, no prizes.
For one week each October, Tropea filled up with easels
A record of the festival, 2023–2025
From 2023 to 2025, the TROPEArte Plein Air Festival brought artists from across Italy and around the world to paint en plein air — outdoors, from life — in the narrow alleyways of the historic center, at the scenic overlooks above the sea, and down on the beach.
No jury. No prizes. No hierarchy between the painter with forty years of exhibitions and the child holding a brush for the first time. Only the town, the light, and a week to work in it.
Each edition ended the same way: a celebration and an exhibition of everything made that week, displayed together.
3editions
175artists
16countries
0juries or prizes
Artists came from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States.
In the Spirit of Albino Lorenzo
And following the sketches and lithographs of Escher
Every edition took its cue from Tropea’s own painters, above all Albino Lorenzo, the Tropean artist sometimes called “the Last Impressionist,” whose artistic spirit is still felt in the town he painted.
Tropea has drawn artists from elsewhere, too. M.C. Escher traveled through Calabria in 1930 and 1931, captivated by the light, the wild geometry of the architecture, the vertical constructions on the rock, and the sheer drops to the sea. Among the works that came out of those journeys is a lithograph of Tropea itself, perched on its cliff.
The Three Editions
Each one a week in October
2023
The First Edition
October 23–28, 2023
The opening year established the pattern that everything else followed: artists from a number of countries — Australia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States — spread through the town to work in the open air, gathering at the end of the week for a shared exhibition.
It also drew the attention of Calabrian broadcaster LaC, whose LaC Storie strand devoted a thirty-minute documentary to the festival.
2024
The Escher Edition
October 8–17, 2024
The second edition drew artists from Italy, the United States, Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, France, Austria, Ukraine, and Russia. The program took its inspiration from M.C. Escher’s Calabrian journeys, and artists sought out the vantage points and geometries that had held his attention a century earlier.
The week ran well beyond the easel:
- The closing exhibition at Palazzo Santa Chiara on October 13
- A visit to the red onion fields with the Boutique della Cipolla Rossa
- A tasting at Cantina Marchisa
- A cooking lesson in the garden of Palazzo Toraldo, organized by Nicola Giuditta of Studio Italiano Tropea, with cook Marianna Giuditta
- A walking tour through the old streets with historian Dario Godano of the Libertas association, translated into English by Francesco Femia
- TROPEArte Junior drawing and painting workshops for children, led by Pasqualina Del Mastro — including groups from the Il Giardino di Persefone project and young people with disabilities from Le Stelle del Faro of Ricadi, who painted Tropea’s cathedral
- A collective work on a single large canvas, curated by artist Carmela Bueti, made in stucco and acrylic by all the artists together
- The closing exhibition at Palazzo Santa Chiara on October 13
2025
The Third Edition
October 9–15, 2025
Local talent from Calabria, painters from elsewhere in Italy, and artists arriving from Malta, Poland, and Switzerland. TROPEArte Junior returned, alongside artists with disabilities working under the guidance of Pasqualina Del Mastro of Il Giardino di Persefone.
Where artists gatheredPiazza Cannone · Largo Duomo · Largo Migliarese · Largo Galluppi
October 9A free tour of the historic center led by Dario Godano of Libertas and the actress Adele Rombolà, translated into English by Francesco Femia — Tropea’s history, its myths, and its legends — followed by a tasting from Patrizia Fortunato of the Boutique della Cipolla Rossa
Through October 11Artists painted freely across the town
October 12A celebration and exhibition of the week’s work, with Luigi Cerra at the piano and Thekla De Marco singing, and a toast and cake from the TROPEArte team. The exhibition remained open until October 15
No jury · no prize · no hierarchy
Open to Everyone
The festival was never a competition. There was no jury and no prize — only participation and creativity. Beginners painted alongside exhibiting professionals. Children painted alongside both.
TROPEArte Junior ran drawing and painting workshops for children throughout the festival, and the festival worked with the Il Giardino di Persefone project and with Le Stelle del Faro of Ricadi so that artists with disabilities could take part on the same footing as everyone else.
Artists came from four continents. That was the point. Tropea was founded by people who arrived here from elsewhere, and it has repeatedly sheltered the vulnerable over the centuries — a history we marked directly in our Shadows of Passage exhibition. A festival held in a town with that history carries an obligation, and we took ours seriously.
The Documentary
Thirty minutes on LaC Storie
The Calabrian broadcaster LaC devoted a full thirty-minute program to the festival — the town, the artists, and the week as it unfolded.
Who Made It Happen
The team, the patrons, and the sponsors
TROPEArte team
Caitlin Werrell and Francesco Femia, co-founders and artistic directors · Patrizia Fortunato, public relations · Renato Marvasi, festival director 2024, art and graphics 2025 · Pasqualina Del Mastro, artistic director 2025 and TROPEArte Junior · Giuseppe Murdaca, social media manager · Adele Rombolà, theatrical director · Claudia Schopf, curator 2023–2024
Held under the patronage of the Comune di Tropea, the Pro Loco di Tropea, and the Libertas association. The 2025 edition was managed by the Associazione Artistico Culturale Il Giardino di Persefone, with the patronage and support of the Comune di Tropea.
With thanks to our sponsors and partners across the three editions:
Acqua degli Dei · Ambrosia · Boutique della Cipolla Rossa · Caffè del Corso · Casa Spaghetti · Collia Cornici · Fame da Lupi · Il Giardino di Persefone · Il Pensiero Meridiano · La Fenice · Libertas · Marchisa · Pizza Roma · Premiata Forneria/Pasticceria · Pro Loco Tropea · Quei Bravi Ragazzi · Studio Italiano Tropea
2026 —
What Came Next
Every year, at the closing reception, we heard the same thing from the artists: a week isn’t long enough, and a festival week is a busy one. They wanted more time and more quiet.
They also kept asking the same question about the seven arches above the port — what were they, and could anyone go inside? For most of living memory, nobody could.
Three Octobers of easels in the alleyways made the case. In 2026, the Arches opened as a permanent home for the work: the same town, the same team, the same light, without the program.
The festival is resting
The Arches are open all year.
Workshops, exhibitions, history talks, film shoots, and artists at work — see what’s happening now.
Gallery
Three Octobers in Tropea (2023, 2024, 2025)
Photographs from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 editions of the TROPEArte Plein Air Festival
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