2025 edition of Atreju to be held in the gardens of Rome's Castel S. Angelo from 6-14 December.Palestinian National Authority president Mahmoud Abbas will be among the guest speakers at Atreju, the political festival organised by the right-wing Frateli d'Italia party of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is scheduled to appear at the Rome event on Friday 12 December, and will be received by Meloni at Palazzo Chigi on the same day. The Atreju line-up will also include Rom Braslavski, an Israeli kidnapped by Hamas during the Nova music festival massacre on 7 October 2023 and held hostage for more than two years in the Gaza Strip. The annual Roman jamboree will be held in the gardens of Castel Sant'Angelo and will run from 6-14 December, in what organisers have described as "the longest edition ever". The nine-day event opens on Saturday at 16.00, with a welcome from Rome's centre-left mayor Roberto Gualtieri, and ends on Sunday 14 December, with closing remarks by Meloni, preceded by deputy prime ministers and coalition partners Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani, leaders respectively of the right-wing Lega and centre-right Forza Italia parties. In between there will be hundreds of talks featuring almost all government ministers including Guido Crosetto (defence), Matteo Piantedosi (interior), Giancarlo Giorgetti (economy), Alessandro Giuli (culture), Daniela Santanché (tourism), Carlo Nordio (justice) and Andrea Abodi (sport). Opposition leaders Giuseppe Conte, Angelo Bonelli, Carlo Calenda, and Matteo Renzi are all on the Atreju programme however Elly Schlein, the leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) party, will not be present. Schlein, considered Meloni's main opposition rival, had requested a face-to-face meeting with Meloni who responded by extending to former premier and leader of the Movimento 5 Stelle, Giuseppe Conte. Schlein declined the three-way debate, however Atreju organiser and Meloni loyalist Giovanni Donizelli insists that "the doors are always open, even at the last minute." Also returning to Atreju will be Gianfranco Fini, former leader of the Alleanza Nazionale party, the precursor to Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, who will meet with former centre-left Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli more than three decades after the two rivals competed to become the capital's first citizen. International guests include Mateusz Morawiecki, former prime minister of Poland and current president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party, and George-Nicolae Simion, the Romanian far-right politician and founder of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). In addition to politics, there will be guests from the worlds of entertainment and sport, including Italian television presenters Carlo Conti, Ezio Greggio and Mara Venier; actors Raoul Bova, Nicoletta Romanoff and Chiara Francini; former national goalkeeper Gigi Buffon and swimmer Carlotta Gilli. Established in 1998, the Atreju festival is named after the central character in the fantasy book and film The Neverending Story. Among the prominent guests in recent years were Argentina's president Javier Milei (2024), Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk (2023) and former Trump political advisor Steve Bannon (2018). Image: Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazen. Photo credit: Golden Brown / Shutterstock.com.

Palestinian National Authority president Mahmoud Abbas will be among the guest speakers at Atreju, the political festival organised by the right-wing Frateli d'Italia party of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is scheduled to appear at the Rome event on Friday 12 December, and will be received by Meloni at Palazzo Chigi on the same day. The Atreju line-up will also include Rom Braslavski, an Israeli kidnapped by Hamas during the Nova music festival massacre on 7 October 2023 and held hostage for more than two years in the Gaza Strip. The annual Roman jamboree will be held in the gardens of and will run from 6-14 December, in what organisers have described as "the longest edition ever". The nine-day event opens on Saturday at 16.00, with a welcome from Rome's centre-left mayor Roberto Gualtieri, and ends on Sunday 14 December, with closing remarks by Meloni, preceded by deputy prime ministers and coalition partners Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani, leaders respectively of the right-wing Lega and centre-right Forza Italia parties. In between there will be hundreds of talks featuring almost all government ministers including Guido Crosetto (defence), Matteo Piantedosi (interior), Giancarlo Giorgetti (economy), Alessandro Giuli (culture), Daniela Santanché (tourism), Carlo Nordio (justice) and Andrea Abodi (sport). Opposition leaders Giuseppe Conte, Angelo Bonelli, Carlo Calenda, and Matteo Renzi are all on the Atreju programme however Elly Schlein, the leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) party, will not be present. Schlein, considered Meloni's main opposition rival, had requested a face-to-face meeting with Meloni who responded by extending to former premier and leader of the Movimento 5 Stelle, Giuseppe Conte. Schlein declined the three-way debate, however Atreju organiser and Meloni loyalist Giovanni Donizelli insists that "the doors are always open, even at the last minute." Also returning to Atreju will be Gianfranco Fini, former leader of the Alleanza Nazionale party, the precursor to Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, who will meet with former centre-left Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli more than three decades after the two rivals competed to become the capital's first citizen. International guests include Mateusz Morawiecki, former prime minister of Poland and current president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party, and George-Nicolae Simion, the Romanian far-right politician and founder of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). In addition to politics, there will be guests from the worlds of entertainment and sport, including Italian television presenters Carlo Conti, Ezio Greggio and Mara Venier; actors Raoul Bova, Nicoletta Romanoff and Chiara Francini; former national goalkeeper Gigi Buffon and swimmer Carlotta Gilli. Established in 1998, the Atreju festival is named after the central character in the fantasy book and film The Neverending Story. Among the prominent guests in recent years were Argentina's president (2024), Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk (2023) and former Trump political advisor Steve Bannon (2018). Image: Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazen. Photo credit: Golden Brown / Shutterstock.com.