The Festival Epicureo recently took place in Senigallia, Italy. If you are familiar with Italian language, you will find videos of many discussions on this YouTube channel. It makes Italy the second country in Europe to have a symposium or weekend-long event dedicated specifically to promoting Epicurean Philosophy, and plans are underway to make this an annual event. The following report was sent by Michele Pinto, of the Epicurean Garden in Italy. It was edited for clarity by Hiram Crespo.

Scholars of Epicurus, disciples of Epicurus or Epicurean philosophers?

I have always read books with great interest and pleasure in which the authors–usually renowned university professors–explain and analyze the thought of Epicurus. Some of these authors’ attitudes annoy me because it is easy to criticize the ideas of those who, 2,300 years ago, did not have the tools we have today, but certainly have made important contributions in the history of thought–something that none of the authors of these books have done.

On the other side, I’ve met many people like me who have a different relationship with Epicurus. People who read Epicurus’s sentences not to understand a thought from the past, but to assess whether these ideas can help them improve their lives. Even here, we sometimes dangerously approach Epicurus uncritically, as if it were a revealed truth–an attitude that does no honor to anyone.

During the Epicurean Festival in Senigallia, I met many people, I listened to many speakers, and above all I made new and profound friendships. Each of the 13 speakers showed a different, original face of Epicurus, mediated by the personal sensitivity of the person presenting it.

Similarly, all of the parallel initiatives–the chef who recreated an epicurean lunch based on the few testimonies available, the Epicurean postcards that capture a smile, the writers who left their idea of Epicureanism on the wall of an underpass, the goldsmith that reinterpreted Horace’s piglet of the herd of Epicurus, the actress who lent the voice to Lucretius–each offered a different, personal, creative idea about Epicurus.

All this work, all these arguments, this whole festival has a very ancient and very simple name. Philosophy.

In Senigallia we didn’t meet just to study Epicurus. We didn’t meet just to celebrate Epicurus and to follow his teachings. In Senigallia we met to do philosophy together starting from the thought of one of the greatest philosophers of all time.

We are not only scholars of Epicurus, we are not only his disciples. We are Epicurean philosophers. To give continuity to this idea, to continue doing philosophy together, we have created an Epicurean association.

Together we could more easily support philosophical research, perhaps by offering a scholarship to the best degree theses on Epicurus. We could disclose the thought of Epicurus by translating his texts, and publishing studies on his thought. Above all, we could carry out philosophical research, studying together how to cure the evils of the soul and reach ataraxia in a modern world which is very different from the Hellenistic one.

To join, you can contact Michele Pinto (michele@pinto.an.it – 380.6026026). The annual fee is € 10, € 25 for the founding members.

Epicuro.org: el giardino della filosofia epicurea in Italia

L’eredità del Festival Epicureo: i capolavori del sottopasso di via Mamiani