Aegina Fistiki Fest 2023
For the 14th consecutive year, the established pistachio festival in Aegina is taking place this year, including a rich artistic – and not only – program.
It is one of the biggest festivals organized every summer in the Argosaronic Islands. The program of events includes exhibitions by local merchants, art exhibitions, agricultural days, concerts, performances, speeches, culinary events, seminars, as well as special activities for children. The theme of this year's festival is "Holidays in Aegina", inspired by the black and white film of 1958 with Aliki Vougiouklakis and Lambros Konstandaras.
The concert program already opened with a surprise live appearance by Panos Mouzourakis and Gadjo Dilo on August 1st on board the ship Antigoni on the Piraeus-Aegina route. After the passengers of the ship disembarked on the island, the concert continued in the port, in the area of Ai Nikolas of Thalassinos. This year's program also includes concerts by Dimitris Bassi, Gianna Vassiliou, Encardia, Lunatics, Swinging Cats, G. Karadimos, as well as rock nights by local bands.
One of the most important events of this year's Fistiki Fest is the double thematic exhibition of Giorgos Xenos. The first takes place in the renovated Kapodistrian Orphanage, which opened to the public on July 27. With the exhibition "The Freedom of Confinement", the historic building that housed the prisons of Aegina in the past, begins its reopening. As for the second thematic exhibition of Giorgos Xenos, entitled "Marching in Sanctity", it will be hosted at the Archaeological Museum of Aegina-Kolonas.
The visual part of the festival includes an exhibition of Greek folk games, an exhibition inspired by the work of visual artist and bird watcher Paul Walker, as well as exhibitions by ceramists Nikos Sklavenitis and Theodora Horafas.
A poetry presentation entitled "The Misses of Avignon often listened to Traviata" will take place at the Morali house, while the Dimitris Kalantzis quartet will present the work "Mano's" in the same place. These are jazz arrangements of compositions by Manos Hadjidakis.
The gastronomy part is led by Michelin-starred Aeginite chef Spyros Katridis, who will cook with a team of chefs from the island. Their creations are based on the urban cuisine of the 1950s-1960s. Also, a group of women from Messinian Mani will present to the attendees the secrets of the next door, the top dessert of their local cuisine.
Of course, the pistachio itself could not be missing from the pistachio festival. That is why the day "Landscape of Pistachio" is planned in collaboration with the Hellenic Society of Culture. The preservation of the cultivation of the valuable fruit is a primary issue, which is why an agricultural seminar will be held in collaboration with the Benaki Phytopathological Institute on the topic of improving the cultivation of the pistachio.
