Aegina Fistiki Fest 2023
The Aegina Pistachio Festival: 14 Years of Celebration
For the 14th consecutive year, the highly anticipated Aegina Pistachio Festival is back, promising a diverse and vibrant program for locals and visitors alike.
This festival is a standout annual event in the Argosaronic Islands, attracting large crowds every summer. The festival lineup includes a wide array of activities, such as exhibitions featuring local vendors, art displays, agricultural showcases, live concerts, performances, informative talks, culinary delights, workshops, and special entertainment for children. The overarching theme for this year's festival is "Holidays in Aegina," drawing inspiration from the 1958 black and white film starring Aliki Vougiouklakis and Lambros Konstandaras.
Kicking off the concert series was a surprise live performance by Panos Mouzourakis and Gadjo Dilo aboard the ship Antigoni on the Piraeus-Aegina route, starting the festivities on August 1st. After passengers disembarked on the island, the concert continued in the port area of Ai Nikolas of Thalassinos. This year's musical lineup also includes performances by Dimitris Bassi, Gianna Vassiliou, Encardia, Lunatics, Swinging Cats, and G. Karadimos, along with rock nights featuring local bands.
A highlight of this year's Fistiki Fest is the dual-themed exhibition by Giorgos Xenos. The first exhibition is hosted at the renovated Kapodistrian Orphanage, which opened its doors to the public on July 27th. Under the title "The Freedom of Confinement," this exhibition marks the beginning of the historic building's reopening; it once served as Aegina's prisons. Xenos's second thematic exhibition, titled "Marching in Sanctity," will be showcased at the Archaeological Museum of Aegina-Kolonas.
The visual arts aspect of the festival includes an exhibition of Greek folk games, an art exhibit inspired by the works of visual artist and bird enthusiast Paul Walker, as well as showcases by ceramic artists Nikos Sklavenitis and Theodora Horafas.
Poetry enthusiasts can look forward to a presentation titled "The Misses of Avignon Often Listened to Traviata" at the Morali house. Meanwhile, the Dimitris Kalantzis quartet will perform "Mano's," a jazz rendition of compositions by Manos Hadjidakis, at the same venue.
Leading the culinary experience is Michelin-starred Aeginite chef Spyros Katridis, who, along with a team of local chefs, will create dishes inspired by the urban cuisine of the 1950s-1960s. Additionally, a group of women from Messinian Mani will share the secrets of their regional cuisine by presenting the renowned dessert of their locale.
Of course, the star of the show, the pistachio itself, will be a central focus. "Landscape of Pistachio" day, in collaboration with the Hellenic Society of Culture, highlights the importance of preserving pistachio cultivation. To address this, an agricultural seminar, organized in partnership with the Benaki Phytopathological Institute, will delve into techniques for enhancing pistachio cultivation.
