Festival du Vent - Festiventu

ℹ️ Event discontinued since 2013. The Festival du Vent — Festiventu has not been held in Calvi since its 22nd edition in October 2013. The 23rd edition initially announced for October 2014 was cancelled and the festival definitively ceased after twenty-two years of existence. No edition is scheduled for 2026 or subsequent years, despite the idea of a possible revival publicly mentioned by its creator Serge Orru in 2021, which never led to a concrete project.

Twenty-two editions dedicated to wind and ecology

Founded in 1992 by Serge Orru and his wife Carina Orru, the Festival du Vent — also known by its Corsican name Festiventu — was a multidisciplinary event held annually in Calvi, in Balagne, in the department of Haute-Corse. For five days, in late October, the city of Calvi welcomed artists, scientists, athletes, intellectuals, inventors, and creators around the unifying theme of wind.

An open and committed program

The festival offered a very broad program: kites, aeromodelling demonstrations, concerts, live shows, theater, performances around flight, as well as scientific conferences and civic debates on environment, ecology, and human rights. This activist dimension quickly made Festiventu one of the most important ecological gatherings in the Mediterranean, with an annual budget reaching 1.5 million euros, mainly financed by private partnerships.

The end of an adventure

During the 22nd edition, in October 2013, the organizers announced the discontinuation of the festival. The significant decrease in the subsidy granted annually by the Collectivité Territoriale de Corse, combined with other difficulties (team fatigue between Paris and Calvi, weakened economic model), led the association Les Amis du Vent to make this decision, presented as irrevocable. A 23rd edition announced for October 2014 was finally cancelled, definitively ending the adventure of the Festival du Vent.

And since then?

In December 2021, Serge Orru, who remains the owner of the name Festival du Vent, mentioned the possibility of helping to create a new event in Calvi dedicated to environmental and human issues, without, however, announcing a concrete revival. Locally, other initiatives have taken over on the ecological theme, such as the festival Green Orizonte organized in Balagne, but these are distinct events from the Festival du Vent.

A lasting legacy in Balagne

While the event itself is no longer held, the Festival du Vent remains largely associated with the cultural identity of Calvi and Balagne. For two decades, it contributed to the late-season tourist appeal of Haute-Corse and helped disseminate, in Corsica and beyond, environmental and civic issues that remain at the heart of the territory's current affairs.