Following the critical and public success of the previous editions, Traffic is back. An event that is now considered to be one of the local cultural excellencies, but is clearly projected outside of its own borders. And the local administrations involvement in it is renewed, albeit clearly within the framework of an inevitable financial rigour. Because the Piedmont Region and City of Turin believe in the festival and characteristics that form it. First of all: it's free. This is a factor which makes it attractive both on a national and international level. Offering high quality music in adequate contexts without asking for a toll is part and parcel of a logic of cultural literacy and is therefore a good way of spending public money. This is also because it isn't a loss of money: affirming Turin's and the Piedmont's centrality in the chessboard of the youth's consumption is a part of the mosaic of initiatives which intend to valorise our territory. Traffic is a popular festival, with the ability of bringing together great masses of crowds, and able to bring that result avoiding mercantile banalities. This is why we consider it a precious element in the series of cultural events presented by the city and the region.

Fiorenzo Alfieri
Assessore alla Cultura e al 150° dell'Unità d'Italia della Città di Torino

Gianni Oliva
Assessore alla Cultura e alle Politiche Giovanili della Regione Piemonte

Mainstage
The heart of the festival is as usual in the Parco della Pellerina: the traditional setting for Turin’s biggest summer appointment with live music.

Word Jockeys: Napoli@Torino
Born as Traffic's "literary" section, where writers - both Italian and foreign - highlighted the musical aspects of their own narrative identity, this year Word Jockeys transforms itself and has a thematic trait. One city: Naples. Its extraordinary human and cultural resources. Its degradation and unease. Artists that symbolise different ages and attitudes of the city narrate its contradictory aspects.

Traffic Nights
The festival's traditional afterhour is in its usual site: the Po Murazzi, represented by the two clubs that symbolise their spirit in different ways. The historic centre "da Giancarlo", a veteran of the area: site of eclectic performances, in the nature of the place. And the Jam, which is sensitive to the new fashions in nightclubbing: here, in collaboration with Situazione Xplosiva, the Berlin branch of the festival ramifies - with DJ sets and laptop format concerts - and is also the big final party will be held.

Traffic Cinema
This year the by now traditional partnership between Traffic and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, that puts its professional abilities and logistical structures (one room in the Massimo Cinema), to host the thematic line of the festival, at our disposal, is once again renewed . On this occasion it is a look at Berlin, the place evoked by Lou Reed in the inaugurative show at the Pellerina, which was developed by the curator Gianni Canova using his experience as film critic. In line with this setting is the festival's preview, which sees the roman group Zu providing a live score to the restored version (by the Berlin Bundesarchiv Filmarchiv) of a classic of German cinematography from the years of lore.

Traffic Art
Last year it was an experiment, but this year Traffic's extension into the lively contemporary scene in Turin is bigger and better articulated. In line with the Berlin theme which characterises the festival's other sections, the art critic Luca Beatrice has  coordinated subject exhibitions that are set up in six of the most important galleries in the city.