Sardinia Archeo Festival: at S’Arcu ’e is Forros the past meets the present under the stars of the Gennargentu
The festival arrives in Villagrande Strisaili for a day immersed in landscape and history
August 27, 2026
From archaeology to contemporary art, from cinema to conviviality, up to the possibility of spending the night under the stars of the Gennargentu. This is the program of the new stop of the Sardinia Archeo Festival, which tomorrow, Friday August 28, will reach the archaeological site of S’Arcu ’e is Forros, in Villagrande Strisaili.The day, organized by the cultural association Itzokor, promoter of the festival, in collaboration with the company Archeonova, which manages the site, and with the cultural association Archeovisiva ETS, will offer a path capable of uniting research, dissemination and artistic languages.The event will kick off with a thematic guided tour of the Nuragic cult complex. The public will be accompanied to discover the site and the surrounding landscape, in an itinerary designed to tell the story of the archaeological heritage through different perspectives.Art meets the Nuragic site
Dialoguing with the spaces of S’Arcu ’e is Forros will also be the contemporary art of Valerio Pisano, author of "Tappinozio di Mezzaestate", a site-specific installation created especially for the occasion.At the center of the work is the element that characterizes the artist's research: the cap of a Bic pen, transformed into a unit of measurement and a tool to build an original relationship between words, matter and forms. A confrontation between past and present that will bring the language of contemporary art inside one of the most significant places of Nuragic archaeology.At 8 PM there will be time for conviviality with an aperitif under the Gennargentu, accompanied by a platter of local products. An informal moment of encounter between the public, guests and the territory, before the evening event dedicated to cinema.Archaeological cinema under the stars
At 9 PM the screenings will begin, carried out as part of the collaboration with Archeovisiva, which will bring to Villagrande two works dedicated to the relationship between memory, heritage, scientific research and cinematic storytelling.Opening the evening will be "S’Ozzastru", a 2023 short film directed by Carolina Melis, with scientific consultancy by Elisa Guidelli and produced by Nical Films. The film tells in eight minutes the story of a millenary wild olive tree, witness of time and symbol of nature's ability to resist.The tree had been hit by the devastating fire that in 2021 affected Sardinia, causing the destruction of about 28 thousand hectares of territory. A year later, the wild olive tree sprouted again, becoming a powerful image of the possibility of rebirth after a wound.Next will be screened "Vitrum. The glass of the Romans – Rome’s glass revolution", a 2025 documentary directed by Marcello Adamo, produced by Filmare Entertainment and GA&A Productions, with scientific consultancy by B. Davidde, F. Cibecchini, I. Freestone and R. Petriaggi.The documentary takes viewers into the depths of the Mediterranean, off the coast of Corsica, where a Roman wreck resurfaces after about two thousand years with an exceptional cargo of raw glass and artifacts. Aboard the Alfred Merlin, an international team of female archaeologists uses advanced technologies to study the wreck and reconstruct ancient trade routes, telling the importance that glass had in the evolution of the Roman Empire.A night under the stars
The evening will not necessarily end with the credits. Those who wish can in fact bring their own tent and spend the night under the stars of the Gennargentu, completing an experience that brings together archaeology, landscape, art, cinema and sociability.A widespread festival across the Island
Born in 2019, the Sardinia Archeo Festival has progressively established itself as a cultural dissemination project capable of bringing archaeology, history, geography, anthropology and current affairs into dialogue through languages accessible to a wide audience.At the center of the event is the human being in his Mediterranean dimension, with his relationships, his encounters and his conflicts. A philosophy that also translates into the choice of distributing events in different territories of the Island, creating a cultural network capable of connecting Cagliari and the most distant municipalities.The 2026 edition can also count on the support of the Fondazione di Sardegna and on the collaboration of public bodies, municipal administrations, associations and organizations engaged in research and enhancement of cultural heritage. Among the partners is also ClassiCult, the official media partner of the event.In Villagrande, for one evening, the archaeological heritage will thus become a living place of encounter: not only to be observed and studied, but to be listened to, told and experienced through art, cinema and landscape.
