For the first time, the Giffoni Film Festival will feature a dedicated relaxation zone designed for neurodivergent children and adolescents. This protected, reserved space aims to provide moments of tranquility and decompression during the festival’s intense days.
The initiative follows a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ente Autonomo Giffoni Experience and Gruppo Asperger Campania for #Giffoni55, running July 17-26 in Giffoni Valle Piana. The shared goal is to make the festival experience increasingly accessible and respectful of individual differences.
Named “Quiet Place – Il luogo della calma” (The Place of Calm), this environment aims to prevent and alleviate potential sensory overload situations by offering concrete, personalized support. Carefully designed features include enveloping furniture, natural materials, and calibrated lighting and sound for those with hyper-reactive sensory profiles. The space will be equipped with soft cushions, poufs, supportive armchairs, tactile and visual games, illustrated books, and noise-canceling headphones—all selected to ensure comfort, self-regulation, and relief.
Access to the Quiet Place will be reserved for jurors participating in Giffoni 2025 who request it by completing a specific form sent to families, requiring indication of a certified diagnosis. Advance registration will enable optimal organization of the area and guarantee service tailored to individual needs.
“Becoming human, as this year’s theme reminds us,” explained Claudio Gubitosi, Giffoni’s founder and director, “means knowing how to recognize and welcome diversity in all its forms. Sometimes, to truly achieve this, we must also overcome our own limits: in thoughts, actions, and choices. Creating the Quiet Place represents a cultural and emotional achievement for us. It results from careful listening and the concrete will to build a space where every juror feels safe, valued, and free to express themselves. Giffoni is, and increasingly will be, the home for all young people, without exception.”
Tiziana Valeriani, Vice President and Salerno representative of Gruppo Asperger Campania, emphasized: “This room is just a first step, but it carries significant meaning: it symbolizes a festival opening with sensitivity to neurodivergence and choosing to embrace differences in ways of perceiving and being in the world.”
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