April 2026
One of the most eagerly awaited events introducing the journey toward the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples returns this year. On Monday, May 11 at 9:00 PM, the Teatro Galli will host the Meeting Preview 2026, an event that weaves together theatre, music, and scientific reflection ahead of the upcoming edition of the Meeting, scheduled from August 21 to 26.
Preziosi will read excerpts from “Celeste Galileo” by Giampiero Pizzol
The evening will feature Alessandro Preziosi (whom Meeting visitors will remember for last year’s powerful reading of Confessions by Saint Augustine), performing selected passages from «Celeste Galileo», a text by Giampiero Pizzol. The staged reading, accompanied by cellist Veronica Conti, will give voice to a narrative capable of revealing not only the historical value of Galileo’s discoveries, but above all their human and cultural significance.
At the heart of the performance lies Galileo’s gaze: the first man to point a telescope toward the cosmos and to be astonished by what he saw. A gesture that forever changed humanity’s place in the universe—no longer at its center, but open to the wonder of the infinite. From this emerges the Copernican vision, which in Galileo coexists with a profound religious tension, marked by the desire to understand the world as an intelligible and ordered reality.
Bersanelli and images from the Hubble and James Webb telescopes
The evening will also connect directly with the exhibition path of Meeting 2026. Marco Bersanelli, professor of Astrophysics at the University of Milan, will present a journey through spectacular images of the universe captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. His presentation invites the audience to rediscover both the sense of wonder and the growing scientific understanding of the cosmos, as expressions of the inexhaustible curiosity that drives human discovery.
Meeting President Bernhard Scholz will then introduce the themes and, above all, the guiding thread of this edition, titled “The love that moves the sun and the other stars,” which will be marked by the presence of Pope Leo XIV on the afternoon of Saturday, August 22.
The Meeting Preview thus confirms itself as a moment capable of anticipating both the themes and the method of the Meeting: starting from experience, beauty, and knowledge to rediscover that human beings are made to know reality and to explore its laws.
Admission to the event at Teatro Galli is free—reserve your seat now on Eventbrite!
From May 12: full program online and tickets on Vivaticket
Starting May 12, 2026, the Meeting website will publish the full programs of exhibitions, performances, the Children’s Village, sports, food services, and many other useful details to help you experience the Meeting. Tickets for paid performances will also be available on vivaticket.it.
