From October 2 to 5, Martano hosts the festival on the theme “The Necessary Project”
From October 2 to 5, 2025, the heart of Grecìa Salentina turns into a crossroads of creativity and dialogue. Martano hosts a new edition of Agorà Design, the biennial festival that weaves together architecture, design, culture, and business. Four days of workshops, talks, lectures, and meetings open to professionals, students, families, and enthusiasts. More than one hundred finalist projects of the international contest, divided into the Living and Garden sections, will be on display, offering a snapshot of contemporary design.
An open and shared experience
Agorà Design does not just celebrate design: it brings it into conversation with the community. The festival becomes an accessible cultural experience, designed to engage citizens, schools, and companies. Organized by the Radio Salentina cooperative with the support of public and private partners, including main sponsor Sprech, the event is a dynamic platform where designers and companies collaborate to turn ideas into concrete solutions, creating a design that engages with today’s market.
Guests and highlights of the 2025 edition
The 2025 program features leading voices: industrial designer Giulio Iacchetti, artist and architect Arturo Vittori, graphic designer Mauro Bubbico, architect Luca Molinari, curator Giovanna Castiglioni, graphic designer Stefano Cipolla, critic Tommaso Bovo, and architects such as Raul Pantaleo (TAMassociati), Alessio Battistella, and Luca Bonifacio. The roster also includes scholars, journalists, and academics like Francesco Zurlo, Dean of the School of Design at Politecnico di Milano. Different perspectives come together with one goal: to rethink what it means to design today.
The Necessary Project
The theme of this edition, “The Necessary Project”, explores the profound meaning of necessity. Not urgency alone, but a vital impulse that guides architecture and design toward sustainability, inclusion, durability, and harmony with context. Inspired by Dieter Rams’ “Less, but better,” participants were invited to develop ideas that improve quality of life while engaging with a constantly evolving society. Over 150 professionals and students accepted the challenge, presenting innovative solutions for indoor and outdoor spaces that will be showcased during the festival.
A story that keeps evolving
Since 2017, Sprech has supported and organized the festival as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility projects. Over the years Agorà Design has welcomed leading figures such as Stefano Boeri, Benedetta Tagliabue, Riccardo Falcinelli, Roberto Palomba, and Peter Pichler. Its strength lies in the ability to bring together designers, institutions, companies, and citizens in an open dialogue that starts in the local community and reaches an international audience.
Agorà Design 2025 confirms itself as a living, inclusive lab where design becomes a tool for encounter, growth, and transformation.
More info and full program here
