by InTrieste
In the rose garden of San Giovanni Park, the final event of the 14th edition of Rose, Books, Music, Wine will take place on Friday, May 30, bringing to a close a cultural festival that has grown into a thoughtful exploration of contemporary issues. This year, the series—organized by the Monte San Pantaleone Agricultural Cooperative in collaboration with the University of Trieste—has focused on the theme of power.
The concluding discussion will center on feminism and how its relationship to power has evolved. Journalist Giulia Siviero, a contributor to Il Post, will speak about her latest book Fare femminismo (Practicing Feminism), published by Nottetempo. In it, she challenges the notion of feminism as a set of rights once fought for and now secured, instead describing it as a living, ongoing practice of freedom.
Siviero’s conversation with Natalina Folla, a researcher and professor of criminal law at the University of Trieste, will begin at 6 p.m. and aims to reframe feminist discourse not only around equality but around the question of power itself. The event’s promotional material cites Susan Sontag’s assertion that “any serious project of women’s liberation must begin from the premise that liberation does not simply concern equality. It concerns power.”
The afternoon will begin at 3:30 p.m. with a guided botanical walk led by Andrea Moro, curator of the university’s botanical collections. A new addition to the program this year is a book club meeting scheduled for 5:15 p.m., offering attendees the opportunity to engage with literature in a more intimate setting before the main discussion begins.
The setting—lush with blooming roses—offers a symbolic backdrop to a conversation that intertwines beauty, nature, and politics. From the early suffragists to modern-day activists, the festival aims to highlight how women’s political movements have consistently blended words and ideas with what organizers call a “unique and spectacular militant creativity.”
As the event series concludes, it leaves participants with questions about how systems of power evolve, and how the practices of feminism can continue to push for liberation in new and relevant ways.
