Laboratories, talks, lectio magistralis, conferences and thematic workshops, an exhibition with projects and prototypes from all over Italy and abroad, meetings between companies, professionals and designers: from Thursday 28 September to Sunday 1 October, Agorà Design returns, a biennial festival celebrating the circulation of ideas on cultural and social issues related to architecture and design, innovation and design biodiversity.

The festival – conceived by the cultural association of the same name directed by Lucia Rescio and supported by the company Sprech – creates a unique dialogue with the place where it is located, the municipality of Martano, and with the surrounding territorial context: the province of Grecìa Salentina, a Hellenic-speaking linguistic island, and the city of Lecce, some 20 km away.

Among the guests already confirmed for the edition opening on 28 September: Riccardo Falcinelli, graphic designer and one of the most appreciated design theorists, with a masterclass on the colour red, and Giovanna Castiglioni, from the Fondazione Achille Castiglioni, with a conversation on the Castiglioni method and a workshop on anonymous objects.

Then there will be Francesco Zurlo, dean of Poli.Design at Milan Polytechnic, designer Francesco Faccin, Simona Bordone, head of content and special projects for Domus; Tommaso Bovo, lecturer in Graphic Design and Project Methodology at the IED in Florence; Francesca Carlino, architect and partner of the architecture and interior design studio ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel; Paolo Casati, founder and creative director of Studiolabo and the Fuorisalone. it; Patrizia Catalano, in charge of coordinating the annexes of Interni magazine; Giovanni Innella, designer; Francesco Pagliari, architect, architecture and art critic of The Plan portal; Marco Petroni, design theorist and critic, lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples; members of the Officina Calabria Design project, to name but a few.

From 28 September, the outdoor spaces of the Palazzo Baronale in Martano will host the best projects selected from among the participants in the Agorà Design Contest 2023, which involved professionals, students and scholars from all over Italy and abroad on the theme "Hyperlocal: architecture and design from the territories", born from the desire to enhance the recovery of local traditions and cultures, contributing to the development of the territories, and to promote different social, cultural and productive realities. On the occasion of the 2023 festival, the projects selected during the 2021 contest and turned into products will be presented to the public.