Beyond the Wall: five hours, five perspectives, one square.
Saturday, 10 October 2026 | from 10.00 am | Piazza del Sole, Bellinzona
Sconfinare Festival
A square is not simply a space to cross. It is a sounding board where words resonate, assert themselves, measure themselves against other words, and change in tone and colour in the ears of those who listen to them. At the heart of the Sconfinare Festival, in Piazza del Sole,
Beyond the Wall
returns as a central moment of this year’s edition: five consecutive encounters exploring the relationship between speech and silence from different perspectives, observing it in the concrete forms through which it shapes public and private life. From political speech that shapes consensus to silence as a practice of attention; from language rooted in the brain to writing that confronts the opacity of experience; and finally to the sea as a physical and imaginary boundary, a place of solitude, storytelling and listening. Massimo Giannini, Nicoletta Polla-Mattiot, Andrea Moro, Mauro Covacich, Björn Larsson and Alex Bellini will accompany the audience on a journey that weaves together journalism, philosophy, neuroscience, literature, exploration and the maritime imagination. Five independent yet complementary perspectives, probing what words can build, preserve or transform, and what silence, in its many forms, can still teach us. Within the concentrated time of a single day, the square thus becomes a contemporary
agora
: an open space for thought, listening and exchange, where we can cross boundaries together, through one of the most decisive thresholds of our present.
10.00 am | Massimo Giannini
The Words of Power
11.30 am | Nicoletta Polla-Mattiot
Silence Is Revolution
2.00 pm | Andrea Moro
Where Words Are Born
3.30 pm | Mauro Covacich
The Shape of What Escapes
5.00 pm | Björn Larsson and Alex Bellini
The Sea Does Not Keep Silent
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Stadt Bellinzona - Amt für Bildung und Kultur
Piazza del Sole, 6500, Bellinzona, Switzerland
sconfinarefestival@bellinzona.ch
- Doors open at 9.30 am, unreserved seating.
- Location
Transparent marquee of Sconfinare Festival. - Seatings
Non-numbered seats. - Included in the ticket
The entrance ticket to the conference space includes snacks and drinks served during the coffee breaks between events. - Audience
Young people and adults. - Reduced price
Students, AHV, IV and young people up to the age of 16 only on presentation of proof of entitlement.