The long weekend of the Feast of Our Lady of the Sea will kick off with the public event “La Saviolina and the Sea of Riccione. Stories to sail through, memories to cherish”, scheduled for Thursday 16 July at 9.15 pm on the terrace of the Club Nautico (Viale D’Annunzio 4/A).

The star of the evening will be the historic vessel Saviolina, a symbol of Riccione’s seafaring heritage. The event will also offer an opportunity to explore the history of the local seafaring tradition, the new technologies being used to promote cultural heritage, and the role of the sea in shaping the city’s future identity. For the first time, the public will be able to experience virtual navigation first-hand on board the famous vessel thanks to a three-dimensional reconstruction based on original drawings and photogrammetric surveys, enjoying an authentic experience of exploration and navigation in virtual reality.

The public event will feature Stefano Medas, a naval archaeologist and scholar of ancient navigation and the historical seafaring traditions of the Adriatic – one of Italy’s leading experts in the field – who has been working for years on the conservation and promotion of the Saviolina. The event will be moderated by Carlo Andrea Barnabé, a journalist with *Il Resto del Carlino*. Joining them will be Roberto Malfagia, co-artistic director of the STAR Museum and head of the creative workshop ‘La Jetée’, and Andrea Tirincanti, coordinator of the scientific committee and co-artistic director of the STAR Museum. Also speaking will be the Mayor of Riccione, Daniela Angelini; the Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture, Sandra Villa; and the President of the Riccione Yacht Club, Franca Mulazzani.

The event on 16 July is free to attend and open to all members of the public. As seating on the Club Nautico terrace is limited, we recommend arriving as early as possible.

On Saturday 18 July at 5.00 pm, Riccione Harbour will be the setting for the traditional Saviolina regatta and the historic boats of Romagna, a much-anticipated event featuring the Mariegole and the city’s historic symbol, the ‘lancione’, whose colourful sails will bring the sea to life in an evocative and deeply meaningful atmosphere.

On Sunday 19 July (5.30 am), Giovanni Truppi will take centre stage at the ‘Albe in controluce’ event in honour of the Madonna del Mare with ‘La lunga fiaba di sabbia’, scheduled to take place on the public beach at Marano (between zones 132 and 134). The performance is a special project that weaves together Pier Paolo Pasolini’s *La lunga strada di sabbia* and Italo Calvino’s *Fiabe italiane*, transforming a geographical journey into a poetic and collective narrative.

In 1959, Pasolini drove the length of the Italian coast, producing a reportage that is at once a diary, a vision and a narrative of a country in transition. A few years earlier, Calvino had collected and rewritten Italian folk tales, constructing a symbolic map of our collective imagination. “The Long Fairy Tale of Sand” brings these two worlds into dialogue: each stage of Pasolini’s journey corresponds to a fairy tale from the same region, in a continuous interweaving of reality and myth, observation and imagination. A singer-songwriter and author of the travel book *L’avventura*, inspired by Pasolini’s text, Truppi, in this project, becomes the voice and interpreter of a broader narrative, accompanying the story with traditional folk songs and songs written by Pasolini. The result is a hybrid, evocative form that is neither merely a concert, nor theatre, nor a reading, but a poetic device in which the spoken word becomes geography and music becomes a narrative echo.

On Sunday 19 July at 9.15 am, at the Port of Riccione, a wreath-laying ceremony will be held in honour of Our Lady of the Sea, followed by a procession at sea featuring the Saviolina and historic vessels.
In the evening, at 9.00 pm, the harbour square will host the Solemn Mass, presided over by Bishop Emeritus Monsignor Francesco Lambiasi. The festival will conclude with the traditional fireworks display over the sea, which will light up the sky, offering a truly moving moment for locals and tourists alike.

The Feast of Our Lady of the Sea is an event organised by Riccione Town Council in collaboration with the Riccione Yacht Club, the Riccione branch of the Italian Naval League, the Riccione Group of the National Association of Italian Sailors, the Riccione Local Maritime Office and the parishes of Riccione.