The old Latin proverb goes, "verba volant, scripta manent" (spoken words fly away, written words remain). But nowadays, can we really still talk about the written word? Before we try to give an answer, let's put down our phones, turn off our screens and take our fingers off our keyboards. Do we still actually write? Through the Una storia che lascia il segno, la scrittura dal cuneiforme al digitale series, Festivaletteratura encourages us to use pen and paper once again, with the aim of understanding how much confidence we can still have in what is considered to be history's founding gesture.

The Pronto Soccorso Corsivo will be open for the event, where the patient of honour will also serve as the handwriting of the public. There will also be a number of illustrious patients as Leopardi's, Calvino's and Kafka's handwriting will be analysed at the Scritture di Scrittori events. Together with Jan Bajtlik, a young designer and graphic designer, children will be able to play with and familiarise themselves with letters. Older festivalgoers can follow Ewan Clayton, calligrapher and teacher, as he looks at examples of beautiful handwriting. We will talk about the history and development of handwriting and, above all, the destiny that awaits it. The written word will remain, but where? Will the pen be little more than a memory? And what about keyboards?