In Valle d’Aosta nasce un nuovo festival culturale nel paese delle ex miniere di amianto
A new cultural festival called Mine Festival is launching in Emarèse, a small town in the Aosta Valley, Italy, from June 12 to 14. The festival aims to reclaim the town's former asbestos mines—operated from 1872 to 1970 and now part of a national environmental remediation program—as sites for artistic and communal reflection. Organized by the association La Clé sur la Porte ETS in collaboration with CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, Cactus Film Festival, and Fondazione CRT, the program includes photography exhibitions, sculpture shows, community bread-making, concerts, workshops, and readings, all set in symbolic locations like the Le Milieu cultural center.
This festival matters because it transforms a site of environmental and health trauma into a platform for cultural regeneration and community identity. By reinterpreting the mines through art, music, and shared food, Mine Festival addresses broader themes of belonging, sustainable tourism, and the reclamation of polluted landscapes. It offers a model for how small, post-industrial communities can use culture to reframe their past and envision a future beyond economic decline and environmental risk.