
INTERNATIONAL
PLAYFULNESS FESTIVAL
28 June – 2 July 2023
For Playful Adult Enthusiasts:
Educators, Play Designers, Artists, Musicians,
Circus Folk, Adventurous Souls and Gentle Hearts.
A GATHERING OF CREATIVE PLAYFULNESS AND SPONTANEOUS KINDNESS
A place to
Re-discover
Playfulness
As adults, we have almost stopped playing and rarely even attempt to cultivate an attitude of lightness. Everyone thinks that play is only for children, and of course it’s really important to allow them to grow and flourish and at the same time we believe that we adults also need to (re)learn to play. We are overwhelmed by a mountain of seriousness, responsibility, commitments, expectations and pressures. The power of play brings in lightness, a feeling of connection with others and joy into our lives.
For three days during Giocosamente Festival you will have the opportunity to rediscover your playful self.
We are more generous and warmer when we focus on what unites us
rather than on our differences. The uniting force in infinite games is
the game itself, it’s not about who’s the best or who is right.
In this safe and welcoming environment you will be immersed in the Spirit of Play. The program is rich with workshops, unconferences, open spaces, sharing circles, talks and naturally lots of fun moments. You will be an active participant and we will co-create the magic together.
The festival is conceived as a gathering for the Enthusiasts of Play to exchange good practices and get charged with great energy!
The festival will be in English and Italian.
Registration open the 20th of April at 9pm CET.
Giocosamente Festival transforms this year in a residential festival deep in nature in the Italian mountains near to Rome. A special place where we can dedicate ourselves completely to playfulness.
– Deepen our Connection, Immerse in the Experience, Welcome the Transformation.
At Giocosamente we play and we play!
There is something truly liberating when adults play. After playing and filling up with life we then talk, share, dance and then play some more.
Playing with our whole being, managing to forget everything else.
Play is what makes life worth living.
28 June -2 July 2023

We eat vegan food and sleep in tents and wooden huts. We laugh as well and create a community of people that believe in the power of play. A gathering of 80 play enthusiasts from all round the world will inspire each other to create a better world starting with how we relate together.
Play isn’t something that comes at the end of a long day, it’s the way we wish to choose to live.
Discover more about what’s new in this years’ edition.
Join us to celebrate
Giocosamente Playfulness
Festival 2023
Registration is open
Places are limited!
Participation is limited to 80 playful enthusiasts, the first 30 will get the super early bird. Yohooo!
Sign up as soon as the registration opens to secure your place.
OF GIOCOSAMENTE
How did we play in the pandemic? We didn’t want to stop the Playful Flow so we gathered on the web. Not exactly the same as in person but it was an incredibly enriching experience for everyone that participated.
People with Play in their heart, from all over the world, discussed, interacted and played together for three intense days of light-heartedness and mutual nourishment.
You can find recordings of the different sessions on The Playfulife Podcast!
we touched
on in the 2020
- Playfulness, Kindness and Mindfulness.
- A playful path to self love.
- Play, Move, Dance: The story of your bod.
- Play as a language, for education.
- Designing play for adults
- Gibberish and nonsense.
- Mindful play.
- Playful philosophy.
- Play based learning.
- Playful storytelling.
- Learning how to ‘Silly Walk’
- Embodied stories of play cultivating resilience through play
- Authenticity Games - relationships at play.
- Creating a more beautiful world through play.
- Playfulness in Adults Scientific Research Survey 2020.
- Teaching with the use of Robots.
- Isolation-busting play.
- Play and democracy.
- Games for creativity.
- Living a more playful life.



what’s new in this
YEAR'S edition 2023
Giocosamente Festival will to return to presence in 2022. It will be a residential festival in a place surrounded by nature, so that participants can dedicate themselves completely to playfulness.
The theme this year is -“The Nature of Play”. The festival is conceived as a gathering for the Enthusiasts of Play to exchange good practices and get charged with good energy!
Residential in Nature
We will be together for three full days sleeping in tents and wooden houses and eating delicious veggie food. In an Agricamping called Pianeta Verde, Montenero Sabino.
- Collaborative workshops
Workshops of various themes where everyone can share games, ideas and have fun.
e.g. Deep Play Games, Parachute Games, Word Games,Embodied Games, New Games, Warm up Games..
- Unconference
Unconference creates a wonderful play space where all attendees are also contributors. All you need to do is show up, and you will be given the opportunity to propose some games, or play the games proposed by the others.
- Open Space Technology
OST is a method for organizing and running a meeting or multi-day conference, where participants have been invited in order to focus on a specific, important task or purpose.
- One hour to the festival
This is a way to give back to the community. Either a workshop or an hour of volunteering would be great and in the spirit of the festival.
Festival Location 2023
We have chosen the AgriCamping "Pianeta Verde"
- as the location for the 2023 Festival; at 700m above sea level, it is truly a beautiful place in the Sabina region, about one hour from Rome.
A magical location, partly wild, far from daily life. Lots of welcoming spaces to eat and inspired settings to dive deep into our play-work.






Montenero
SABINO CASTLE
During the 2022 festival, there was an excursion to a beautiful medieval castle; just a few kilometres from Pianeta Verde.
What games would you have played inside the castle?
WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING YOU!
REGISTRATION OPENS
AT 9pm on the 20th of April 2023!
"I am playful, I am joyful and
I love life!"

Outline Programme of the
Festival 28 june - 2 July 2023
Wednesday 28th of June
Thursday 29th of June
-
9.30 am Check in
at Pianeta Verde, Montenero Sabino.
-
10.30 am Welcome ceremony
Name and Networking games to get to know each other. Workshop presentation.
-
1 pm Lunch
-
2.30 pm Workshops
eg. co-created, body play, art play, word play, experimental games, facilitating play for adults etc.
-
5 pm Talks on “The Nature of Play”.
-
7.30 pm Dinner
-
9 pm Improv games

Saturday 1st of July
About the Creator
of the Festival

Playfulness: the unexpected answer.
In 2018 when Anthony Trahair was doing some deep soul searching he asked himself, after all the experiences and skills I’ve acquired, what can I GIVE BACK to the world.
The answer was an unexpected one to him and less unexpected to others. PLAYFULNESS.
Anthony had never thought of playfulness as a thing in itself. And there it was the thing that he saw was often missing in his life and was definitely missing in most of the situations around him. Surrounded in an ocean of seriousness that was drowning his life force Anthony decided to do something about this. He read books and books on the topic from Bernie de Koven to Stuart Brown and many many others. He created a four week online course into Playfulness to fund a trip to one of the greatest playfulness festivals in the world, the Counterplay Festival in Denmark. Anthony made it there and met many others that valued play in the world.
He started up a podcast called The PlayfuLife Podcast, interviewing playful people from all over the world.
Strong with this experience and realising that Playfulness is best practised in company Anthony organised the first edition of Giocosamente in his beautiful mediaeval village in Italy. This year the festival is set in nature and we will spend one of the days playing in a castle all for ourselves!
Ticket Price
Arrival Wednesday 28 June 2023 - Departure Sunday 2 July after lunch 2023
FULL PRICE (subject to availability) Tent: = 272€ (advance payment 172€) Bed in double bungalow per person (no single use) = 352€ (advance payment 252€) Bed linen and towel kit €10
Discounts for children (15 places)

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What people are saying?
I loved the open sharing of ideas which will spark creativity leading to new ideas, new projects and new collaborations. It was impressive all of the genuine play experiences this group was able to create through an online format…way more exciting, engaging and fun than I thought would be possible from spending a weekend online. I think this digital format allowed for less distinction between “experts” and “participants” which helped people feel comfortable speaking up and sharing their perspectives. I am walking away feeling lighter, with many laughs and looking forward to playing again.