Campania
Salerno Luci d’Artista 2026: Dates, the 31 Installations and the 72,000-LED Tree
Salerno's Luci d'Artista runs 7 November 2026 to 6 January 2027, free, with 31 light installations, 4 videomappings and a 20-metre tree on Piazza Portanova.
Salerno's Luci d'Artista runs from 7 November 2026 to 6 January 2027 along the seafront and the old centre.
It is the 21st edition, and it is free.
The lights went on at 17:30 on Saturday 7 November in the Villa Comunale, with 31 installations and four videomappings across the city this year, as the event site sets out on Luci d'Artista Salerno. Trenitalia adds 19 extra trips a day at the weekends to carry the crowds in from Naples.
Quick answer
Dates: 7 November 2026 to 6 January 2027.
Hours: the lights come on at dusk and run into the night, every evening.
Where: the Villa Comunale, the Lungomare Trieste, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza Flavio Gioia and Piazza Portanova.
What: 31 light installations, four videomappings on the city's palazzi, and a tree of more than 20 metres with 72,000 bulbs.
The trap: driving in. The city fills at the weekends and the trains are the way.
A museum of light along the sea
Luci d'Artista began in Turin and came south to Salerno in 2006, and the southern edition has become a draw in its own right. The Villa Comunale, the garden by the sea, is the heart of it, this year dressed with four fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel and Jack and the Beanstalk, and a lit zoo for the children. From there the lights run along the Lungomare Trieste, where penguins stand over the water, and up Corso Vittorio Emanuele, where a new installation of crystals and planets hangs over the shopping street.
Piazza Flavio Gioia fills with jellyfish and sea creatures, terracotta warriors stand behind the Teatro Pasolini, and on Piazza Portanova the tree rises more than 20 metres with over 72,000 bulbs. The four videomappings play on the fronts of Palazzo Genovese, Palazzo Sant'Agostino, the Teatro Verdi and the Liceo Tasso.
The old centre and the Amalfi Coast next door
Salerno's old centre, the lanes between the cathedral and the Corso, is where the lights meet the city, with the Duomo's Norman bell tower and the bars of Via dei Mercanti a few steps from the installations. The cathedral keeps the tomb of Saint Matthew, and the city's own Christmas builds around it.
The Amalfi Coast starts at the city's western edge. Vietri sul Mare, the ceramics town, is one stop by train, and out of season the coast road is quiet, so a Luci d'Artista weekend pairs with a winter day in Amalfi or Ravello that the summer crowds never see.
Reaching Salerno by train
Salerno is on the high-speed line south from Naples and Rome, with fast trains from Naples in about 35 minutes and from Rome in under two hours, and the station stands a few minutes on foot from the Corso and the seafront. For the lights, Trenitalia, the Campania region and the city add 19 extra trips and some 10,000 seats a day at the weekends, on 7 and 8 December and from 4 to 6 January, on the Salerno to Naples Campi Flegrei, Caserta and Arechi lines.
The extra trains are the signal: this is an event the region moves by rail, and a ticket bought in advance is needed to reach the platforms at Salerno on the busy days. Timetables are on the Trenitalia site.
Where to stay in Salerno
The seafront and the old centre put the Villa Comunale, the Lungomare and the Corso on the doorstep, with the lights outside the window from dusk.
Vietri sul Mare, a short train or bus ride west, gives a quieter base on the first bend of the Amalfi Coast, with the lights an evening away.
The mistake to avoid
Do not drive in on a December weekend. The seafront fills, the car parks fill by the afternoon, and the trains, with their extra services, are faster and cheaper. Arrive by rail and walk.
The second mistake is treating it as a quick look. The route from the Villa Comunale along the sea and up the Corso is a couple of hours on foot, and the videomappings run on a loop into the evening, so give it the night.
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