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The Trento Economics Festival is one of Italy’s most important cultural events in the field of economic and social sciences. It takes place every year in May or June, drawing economists, politicians, journalists and intellectuals from around the world to Trento.
What makes the festival unique is not only the calibre of its speakers — which over the years has included Nobel laureates such as Paul Krugman, Amartya Sen and Edmund Phelps — but its open and accessible format. Most events are free. Debates take place in squares, deconsecrated churches, university lecture halls and the courtyards of historic palaces, mixing academics and non-specialist audiences without hierarchy.
The themes
The festival’s theme changes each year, addressing questions of applied economics relevant to the present: the energy transition, inequality, the future of work, fiscal policy. Panels feature lively debates with contrasting viewpoints presented in a way accessible to those without an economics background.
Why it is worth attending
For guests at Hotel Accademia, the Economics Festival is a rare opportunity: it is hard to find elsewhere an event of this intellectual scope in such a beautiful setting and such an accessible format. Walking through central Trento during the festival means stumbling on impromptu encounters, queues outside lecture halls, conversations in bars between people with very different backgrounds.
Practical information
The full programme is published on the festival’s official website a few weeks before the event. Registration for the main events is recommended, though many debates are accessible without booking. During the festival the city is lively and restaurants are busier than usual: book meals in advance. The hotel is steps from the main festival venues: Piazza del Duomo, the Palazzo della Provincia and the University of Trento Economics Department.
