There are mornings on the Poetto that feel like a gift. The kind where the sea is still, the light comes in soft and gold, and the city hasn't yet shaken off its sleep. Tomorrow, Saturday 16 May, that atmosphere becomes the backdrop for something quietly extraordinary — Pratiche di Presenza, a free outdoor session weaving yoga and literary reading into one seamless, grounding experience.

What / Where / When:

• Date: Saturday, 16 May 2026, at 9:00 AM
• Location: Spiaggia del Poetto, Cagliari — 6th stop, in front of the car parks
• Duration: Approx. 1 hour and 30 minutes
• Cost: Free, registration required
• What to bring: A yoga or fitness mat

A Morning Ritual for Body and Mind

The session opens with a guided yoga practice led by Daniela Laudani, mindfulness expert and yoga instructor, designed to be accessible to all ages and experience levels. Whether you've never rolled out a mat in your life or yoga is already part of your morning routine, this is a space where the only requirement is showing up.

What makes this morning truly distinct is what follows the practice: a reading rooted in the poetry and prose of Chandra Livia Candiani, one of Italy's most respected contemporary poets and meditation teachers. Her words carry a rare quality — they don't rush you. They breathe alongside you, much like the sea itself. The combination of movement and spoken word creates something that goes beyond a workout or a literary event. It becomes a practice of being present, exactly as the title promises.

Part of Something Larger: Aspettando LEI 2026

This morning on the beach is not a standalone moment. It belongs to "Aspettando LEI", the warm-up series that runs from 10 to 17 May 2026, spanning Cagliari, Quartu Sant'Elena, and Pau. The programme is a carefully curated week of cultural encounters — philosophy walks, literary picnics, theatrical readings, and guided city tours — designed to bridge communities and carry audiences toward the main event: the LEI Festival, scheduled for December 2026 at the Teatro Doglio in Cagliari.

The week opened on Sunday 10 May with a philosophy and reading laboratory centred on La Vita Contemplativa by Byung-Chul Han, and has since moved through a Booknic literary picnic in the Parco di Monte Claro, a philosophical walk on spirituality, and a reading tour through the historic quarter of Castello. Each appointment threads the same needle: bringing people into the present moment through the art of reading.

The LEI Festival: A Decade of Ideas in Sardinia

To understand why "Aspettando LEI" resonates so deeply with the city, it helps to know what LEI is building toward. The LEI Festival — Lettura, Emozione, Intelligenza — has been held in Cagliari since 2016, establishing itself as one of the most significant non-fiction literary festivals in the national and international landscape. Each year, it gathers writers, thinkers, and artists of international standing for a programme that goes far beyond the conventional author talk.

The festival's mission is ambitious: to use literature as a tool for social and environmental empathy, reaching audiences in places where reading is often absent — spaces where a book can become, in the organisers' own words, "a tool of comfort, survival, and human improvement". Past editions have tackled themes as bold as Giocare (Play) in 2024 and Evoluzione (Evolution) in 2025, each one framing cultural and philosophical questions in a way that invites the audience to participate actively, not just observe.

The festival is produced by Compagnia B, a cultural enterprise based in Cagliari with a sharp focus on events that awaken social consciousness and foster empathy — both human and environmental.

Why This Matters for Cagliari

What "Pratiche di Presenza" captures is something the city has quietly been building for years: a cultural identity that is both rooted and curious, local and worldly. Standing barefoot on the Poetto at 9am, listening to Candiani's poetry with the sound of the waves underneath, is not a passive experience. It's a declaration that slowness has value. That culture doesn't always happen under a roof or behind a ticket barrier.

Cagliari is increasingly a city that chooses quality over spectacle — and the LEI universe, from its December centrepiece at the Teatro Doglio to these early-morning beach sessions in May, is one of the clearest expressions of that identity.

The main festival returns to Cagliari in December 2026. Keep it on the radar.

Sources: leifestival.it, cagliariturismo.comune.cagliari.it