History

Festival del Sole is born in 1989. It’s the first of its kind in Italy and in Riccione: never before anyone has organized an international non-agonistic gymnastics exhibition. Right from the First edition the Festival is a great success, attracting 58 groups from 11 different European nations.

The following editions see the Festival grow more and more: starting from 1992 the athletes can perform on the “Arenas”, real open-air stages set in front of the sea, the groups are now 76 making a total of 1850 participating athletes! The popularity of the Festival continues to rise: in the 1996 edition even 11 groups from Brazil take part. Bearing in mind this huge success, starting from 1998 the Festival del Sole is held every two years. The number of athletes continues to rise, and the fourth and fifth edition hosts groups coming from Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Czech Republic, Republic of San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary for a total of 1900 members.

In the sixth edition of 2002 Festival del Sole introduces a new event in its programme, the competition “Riccione per la Danza” (Riccione for dancing), which is held at the opening of the Festival.

During the following editions (in 2004, 2006 and 2008) the Festival del Sole reaches great importance, especially the ninth edition of 2008: Riccione is literally invaded by more than 3400 athletes from 19 different nations performing in front of a crowd of 50000 people!

In 2010 Festival del Sole will celebrate its 10th edition. It will be a very special edition full of surprises for those who’ll take part: impossible to miss!