2009 SUMMER EVENTS AND AUTUMN PREVIEW


CHILDREN’S BEACH ENTERTAINMENT
June-July-August
    Summer on the beach in Grado is light-hearted and playful: a full round of daily entertainment and activities for small children, teens and grown-ups. Including an old favourite: the Fairytale Lady narrates the best-loved fairytales in an original, entertaining way. There will also be the popular Library on the Beach: the Falco Marin Public Library goes to the beach every Wednesday in July and August, bringing with it a wide selection of books for children or grown-up for a pleasant afternoon’s reading. The latest books come to the beach.


BOOKS AND WRITERS
July-August
    At the seaside the public meets top Italian writers, journalists, leading cultural figures and people in the news. Current topics discussed in a relaxed yet stimulating atmosphere under the guidance of journalist Paolo Scandaletti.  

BOOKS IN BOATS
July-August    
Words and emotions on water. A unique boat trip for adults and children.  A voyage around Grado lagoon while a well-known narrator reads the world’s great literature classics.


DANCING UNDER THE STARS
26 June - 28 August    
Parco delle Rose
Evening events in which expert dancers and new enthusiasts can try their hand at popular line dances, Latin-American and dance-hall favourites. A chance for Grado’s inhabitants and its Italian and international guests to enjoy Parco delle Rose at a more unusual time of day. Inaugural evening on 26 June with the Mirko Casadei Beach Band.

VIE DELLA MUSICA
MUSIC STREETS
July-August    
A music festival designed to involve the island’s welcome holiday guests, a chance for them to hear the music of Grado. Artists perform in the narrow streets and tiny squares during the hot summer evenings in a festival of Grado’s traditions and culture.
The festival offers two weekday events (free admittance) from July to mid-September, involving soloists, duets and trios.

MUSICA A 4 STELLE
FOUR-STAR MUSIC
July-September    
Diga Nazario Sauro, Basilica di Sant’Eufemia, Palazzo Regionale dei Congressi
Music in the summer combined with local history and culture. A series of concerts ranging from “high” music forms to folk music, dance music or music to meditate by.


LAGUNAMOVIES
first weeks of August    
Diga Nazario Sauro, Laguna di Grado
Films come to the lagoon: the fifth year of a festival devised to promote film sets in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. A broad range of film screenings, conferences and shows in the old town of the Sunny Isle and on the islands around Grado. Open-air, themed conversations with exponents of Italian cinema in a unique, extraordinary setting.




GRADO YOUNG
August    
Parco delle Rose
A new event for young adults: meeting, exchanging views, learning and emerging. Conversations with celebrities; performances by new talents; new art forms; live evenings on Grado beach; CD productions and much more. All this is GradoYoung. An Associazione Italiana Spettacoli multimedia project for young musicians. GradoYoung is divided into two separate phases: GradoYoung Festival and GradoYoung Compilation. GradoYoung aims to create a launchpad and stage for young talents through a song contest which leads to a recording contract.



DISCOLATINO FESTIVAL
August    
Parco delle Rose
A festival of Latin-American music. Dancing, culture and entertainment with the top Latin-American dance schools and professionals. Well-known musicians and entertainers involve Grado’s tourist guests in the shows.

MISS ITALY REGIONAL FINALS
August    
Parco delle Rose
According to tradition, Grado hosts the regional finals of the Miss Italy beauty pageant. Miss Friuli Venezia Giulia will be elected during an exciting evening in Parco delle Rose. The new beauty queen will go on to the Miss Italy national finals in Salsomaggiore.


PUPPET FESTIVAL
24-29 August 2009    
Diga Nazario Sauro, main beach - Costa Azzurra
Fun for children and adults alike and a chance to see some of Grado’s prettiest spots: marionette- and glove-puppet theatres, shadows and emotions in a succession of shows, sketches and performances by Italian and international artists, street actors, storytellers, puppeteers and marionettists.





GRADO GIALLO
CRIME FICTION FESTIVAL
1-3 October 2009    
Auditorium B. Marin, Public Library, old town, bookshops and cafés
Conferences, screenings, talks, entertainment and food-and-wine events: lots of fun for child and adult readers who join writers, critics, journalists and artists on the island stage in a crescendo of mystery and excitement, transforming Grado into a vast “criminal” setting.
An unmissable event for crime fiction enthusiasts. A showcase for Italian crime writers amidst the island’s romantic autumnal atmosphere, the ideal backdrop for stories steeped in mystery.
Conversations with authors, read-a-thons, children’s workshops, themed dinners where the public helps to find the culprit. A festival of crime and noir fiction to attract the many enthusiasts of these literary genres to the island at a quieter time of year, away from the tourist crowds.


BORETO A LA GRAISANA
October-November    
Old Town Centre
Winter on the island offers a food-and-wine event devoted to a speciality fish dish of Grado, boreto, as a way of making Grado a tourist attraction all year round.