The sixteenth Lawrence Travel Literature Festival kicks off in Mandas , this year dedicated to roots and identity. The event has become a fundamental stop for culture and literature enthusiasts, and for several years its goal – always on target – has been to promote slow tourism on the tracks of time and history .
Today, Tuesday 5 November, at 5 pm in the Reading Club, the presentation of the novel by Tore Quartu “La Sardegna nell'anima” ; at 6 pm the delivery of the Mandas Award of the Year to the first master cutler in the history of Mandas Michele Raccis and to the other experts in the art of cutlery Mario Mulliri, Giorgio Mulliri, Stefano Pili and Alessandro Pili. Tomorrow, Wednesday 6 November at 5 pm, in the Reading Club, the meeting “Mandas: genealogies and origin of surnames” with Raffaele Cau Bua and the assignment of the Lawrence Award 2024 for literature to the historian Francesco Cesare Casula ; at 6:30 pm the journalist Francesco Pintore presents his latest book “Tundhimentas”.
On Thursday 7 November, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the birth of the Cagliari and Italian national team striker, the Stadler trains, in transit from Monserrato to Mandas, will have the image of Gigi Riva in their livery . The Town Hall will also be lit up in red and blue. On Friday 8 November at 11 am Pierluigi Montalbano will meet secondary school students in the “Journey into the archaeological history of Mandas: the Nuragic ship”; at 5 pm in the Sant'Antonio compendium, the presentation of Pierluigi Montalbano's book “Four Moors with Five Circles. Sardinians at the Olympics from 1908 to 2024”; at 6 pm the president of Anci Sardegna Daniela Falconi will talk with Caterina Cosseddu, winner of the 2024 Lawrence Special Prize on roots and identity. At the end, a tasting of typical local products.
Saturday 9 November “The journey into the myth” : at 9 am the departure of Gigi Riva’s train from the Monserrato railway station, at 10.30 am the welcome of guests in the town hall; at 10.45 am the influx of school children in the space between Piazza Deledda and Piazza Gigi Riva; at 11 am the inauguration ceremony of Piazza Gigi Riva and his statue created by the artist Mario Matta in the presence of Nicola and Mauro Riva and a delegation of former rossoblù footballers; at 5 pm in the conference room of the former Convent the assignment of the 2024 Lawrence Prize for Journalism to Pietro Senaldi, co-director of Libero. The president of the Consorzio della Costa Smeralda, Renzo Persico, will present the prize.