Pro LOCO Poesis

In Foglianise, a village in the Vitulanese Valley known for its extraordinary art of wheat weaving, poetry becomes a collective, almost handcrafted gesture: a simple, everyday, sometimes rough word is taken and shaped until it becomes memory. Pro LOCI Poesis, an initiative created by Pro Loco “Ugo Pedicini”, was born from this very idea: culture is not decoration, but a concrete way of being present in the inland areas of Sannio. Its name plays with Latin and brings together two souls: the Pro Loco, which protects and animates the territory, and the loci, the places, which become poetic matter. The contest is dedicated to the memory of Maria Teresa De Cicco, a passionate writer and beloved figure close to the Foglianise community, who passed away prematurely, and it also grew from the enthusiasm of the village’s younger generations, eager to transform written words into a democratic space for expression. This is not a closed or academic event: it welcomes both published and unpublished poems on free themes, placing them in conversation with the community also through the Social Prize, which shares the works on the Facebook page of Pro Loco Foglianise and engages readers near and far, including the Sannio diaspora. The most performative heart of the event is the 3π - Poetry Slam, officially registered in the LIPS circuit as TRE π GRECO and organised in collaboration with Polifonia Creativa and Flysch Fact: six poets compete using only body and voice, without costumes, props or music, in three-minute performances judged by a jury randomly chosen from the audience. In this way, listening becomes participation, poetry becomes a civic ritual, and Foglianise confirms its vocation: weaving identity, just as it has done for centuries with wheat.