This year, for the second time in a row, I was one of the volunteers at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia. In this (short) post I will collect some basic information to answer some questions that have been made to me or to other volunteers: I’m going to answer in this post for the curious and those who want to participate in one of the forthcoming editions as public.
— When: Dates vary from year to year (last year it was in mid-April, this year at the beginning and in 2017from 5 to 9 April). From this point of view the only useful advice I can give you, which is also the most obvious and banal, is to check the official website of the festival for exact dates
— Where: There are several locations where the various panels take place and are (almost) all in the city center. The main ones are the same every year:
At the Hotel Brufani, located in piazza Italia (in front of the Carducci gardens) there are the press room and the info point and the two hall called Raffaello and Perugino. The two rooms are not very big, so you have to get in line early (whit the right advance), especially if the panel is held by people with a large following;
The Sangallo Hotel is the farthest place from the hotel Brufani. You can easily get there from Piazza Italia by the escalator which pass through the Rocca Paolina. To get there from the Hotel Brufani it takes 10-15 minutes.
In the city center there is also the “Centro servizi G. Alessi” (located in the building of the Chamber of Commerce). It is located in Via Mazzini 9;
The Sala dei Notari is the location I prefer among those that host the festival: I think it is the most beautiful for the atmosphere (I recommend you to have a look around you once you are inside the hall) and it is, I believe, the largest room of all the festival halls; It is located in Piazza IV novembre.
The Doctorate Room (“sala del dottorato”) is located on the opposite side of Piazza IV novembre, next to the Cathedral of St. Lorenzo (right in the cloister of the Cathedral)
Palazzo Sorbello is located in Piazza Piccinino. This former palace dating from the seventeenth century, the ancient home of the Marquises Bourbon di Sorbello, is a museum with a valuable collection of paintings, porcelain, printed works, manuscripts and embroidered fabrics. The room is quite small, so I suggest you get in a row even before than the other rooms.
Then there is the Teatro Morlacchi that, between the two theaters that host the festival, is the largest (or at least this is my impression, I can not tell the exact number of seats). Also this location I really like and I recommend you do not concentrate only on the panel / event, but also to look at you around to enjoy the beauty that surrounds you.
Finally there is the “Teatro della Sapienza“, located near the hotel Brufani. The room is quite small and you have to go there with the right advance, if you want to find a seat.
In the opening pages of the festival program you can find the map with all the locations marked: try to have one always with you, so you can’t miss any location during the festival.
— Program: You can find it on the official website, where you can also read a brief description of what will be discussed during the event. You don’t need to print it (I saw people going around with the website pages printed), because you will find different copies in all the locations.
— Events: To participate, basically, you just need to get in queue for each event you want to follow: to simplify a lot, in italian we say “first arrivals, better housing”. Some events are certainly more popular than many others and few times, in 2015, it happened that for two events was made a replica: It isn’t the normal practice, so do not expect to be done every time but It could happen (so, pay attention to that);
— Language: the biggest part of panels are in italian, but it’s true that many panels are in English. For some of these (in english) there is the simultaneous translation into italian (you can take your headphones at the entrance of the room, giving an identity document that will be returned you when at the end of the panel you will return the headphones); For those in italian the translation in english is not so obvious;
— If you have any questions: you may ask to the staff or volunteers, recognizable by the colour of their badge (in 2016 blue for the staff and purple for the volunteers). They will know how to help you. Do not hesitate to ask questions, even if you think your question may seem a stupid one.
If you need an advice about where to stay, I wrote a post about the apartment I booked on Airbnb