From August 21 to 24, 2025, the charming Abruzzi village of Torricella Peligna will host the 20th edition of the John Fante Festival “My Father’s God,” an international cultural event dedicated to the figure and literary legacy of John Fante, one of the most influential Italian-American writers of the 20th century.
The festival takes its name from one of Fante’s most intimate and autobiographical works, My Father’s God, and is a unique opportunity to explore themes dear to the author: identity, emigration, roots, the father-son relationship and writing as a form of redemption and memory.
Organized by the municipality of Torricella Peligna, the hometown of Fante’s father, the festival features literary meetings, readings, concerts, film screenings and dialogues with authors, intellectuals and artists. A rich and varied program that transforms the village into an open-air cultural laboratory, where the written word meets the living voice of contemporaneity.
Special guests of the 2025 edition:
Dacia Maraini, one of the most influential voices of contemporary Italian literature, will be the protagonist of a special meeting during which she will receive the John Fante Lifetime Achievement Award – Vini Contesa. She will dialogue with journalist Maria Rosaria La Morgia in an event that promises to be exciting and thought-provoking;
Sigfrido Ranucci, well-known journalist and host of Report, will present his book La scelta (Bompiani) in dialogue with Luciano D’Amico, professor of business administration at the University of Teramo.
John Fante Opera Prima Award 2025: the voice of new Italian storytellers
Among the most anticipated moments, the ceremony of the John Fante Opera Prima Award, which each year enhances new voices in Italian fiction, is the beating heart of the festival, an award created with the intention of enhancing new literary voices; the award is distinguished by its focus on the quality of writing,originality of vision and the ability to tell the present with depth and authenticity.
Finalists for the 2025 edition include Marta Aidala with La strangera, Marco Bonfanti with Appunti contadini, and Paolo Valoppi with Mio padre avrà vita eterna.
A prize that looks to the future: the winner will be announced during the festival’s final evening, in an event that combines emotion and reflection; it consists of financial recognition and the opportunity to participate in a literary residency, thus offering concrete support for the emerging author’s career.
The jury is composed of writers, critics, editors and journalists, as well as college students and avid readers, underscoring the participatory and inclusive nature of the prize.
The John Fante Festival, therefore, is not only a tribute to the writer Fante, but anopportunity and also an invitation to reflect on the deep connection between literature and territory, between memory and the future. It is an unmissable event for those who love culture, the beauty of authentic places and the power of stories that know how to cross time.
Toto Holding renews its cultural commitment by sponsoring the Italy Roots in the World Prize for the second year in a row: born from the synergy between the John Fante Festival and the Piccolo Festival delle Spartenze, the prize is dedicated to Italians abroad and Italian-descendants, with the aim of enhancing stories of migration and identity. The 2025 edition focuses on the theme Women in Emigration, offering a space of expression to unpublished stories that explore women’s experience in the Italian diaspora.
Toto Holding’s sponsorship represents an important support to the promotion of Italian culture around the world, helping to give voice to new narratives and strengthen the link between roots and the future.
Getting there
Torricella Peligna is a charming mountain village located in the province of Chieti, in the heart of Abruzzo, at about 910 meters above sea level between the Sangro and Aventino valleys, facing the Maiella mountain range. It is nestled in an evocative natural landscape, among the hills and slopes of the Majella, and offers an authentic mix of history, culture and local traditions.
It can be reached by car from Rome in less than 3 hours, following the A25 towards Pescara to the Pratola Peligna exit, then continuing by SS 652 and SP 164.
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