Italy
From August 21 to 26, Rimini Fiera hosts the 47th edition of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, an event that for over forty years has offered encounters, testimonies, exhibitions, and moments of dialogue on the major issues of our time. The title chosen for this year is one of the most famous lines from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy: «The love that moves the sun and the other stars».
A force that unites beyond fragmentation
This is not merely a literary quote. The Meeting begins with the question of what force today is capable of holding together people and societies marked by fragmentation, loneliness, and conflict. Love is presented as a force that neither dominates nor compels, but attracts, connects, and allows for a fresh start. This is a particularly meaningful perspective in a time marked by wars, divisions, and new forms of isolation.
The program addresses some of the most urgent issues of our time: the search for peace and reconciliation, the relationship between artificial intelligence and the human person, the transformations of the economy and work, the role of politics, and the need to build new forms of social life. At the center remains the human person, with their freedom, capacity for relationship, and desire for a good that is not merely individual.
Between dialogue, witness and the common good
One of the defining aspects of the Meeting is the opportunity to bring together diverse experiences. Alongside major international themes, concrete stories find space: people committed to education, solidarity, peacebuilding, caring for the least, and seeking new paths to navigate societal transformations. The Meeting thus offers an encounter between culture and daily life, between reflection and witness.
In this perspective, the love evoked by the title is not understood as a mere feeling. It is rather a responsibility that can translate into gestures, choices, and relationships capable of setting back in motion what seems blocked. Even in the face of conflicts, fear, and divisions, it remains possible to seek what unites without erasing differences.
The 2026 Rimini Meeting presents itself as a space for dialogue and search, in which to question the future without giving in to resignation. «The love that moves the sun and the other stars» becomes a question addressed to everyone: what force moves our choices and our communities today? And above all, are we capable of turning this force into a shared journey toward the common good?
Image created digitally by spazio + spadoni