The "Matera Seen from the Moon" festival, which took place from 15 to 24 July, comprised a rich programme, including world premieres, concerts, urban design, book presentations and film screenings to recall the first man on the moon and Rocco Petrone, the great Lucanian who guided the Apollo 11 mission.

The festival included 10 days of performances accompanied by lunar installations in the streets of the city centre and major concerts at Cava del Sole.

The festival programme was previewed at Cava Paradiso at 6:30 pm on Monday 15 July with “Nanogagliato Festival meets Matera 2019”, at which scientists from the Academy led by Mauro Ferrari discussed the worlds of science, nanotechnology and space with the audience. The occasion offered the opportunity for a guided visit to Studio Formafantasma's “Visione Unica” exhibition, part of the I-DEA project.

On the morning of 16 July, the Giardino dei MOMenti in Piazza Semeria hosted a series of Lunar Experiments, a workshop for young scientists from the Gagliato Nanoscienze Junior Academy, where the very young carried out a series of experiments, from the phases of the moon to the role of nanoscience in space. In the afternoon, Sasso di Castalda, Capital for One Day, put on a rich programme dedicated to Rocco Petrone, one of the most famous citizens in the history of this extraordinary Lucanian village.

At 6:00 pm on Wednesday 17 July there was a meeting in Piazzetta della Cittadinanza Attiva with the poet and author Davide Rondoni on the occasion of the presentation of his latest book "'And like the Wind. The Infinite, the strange kiss of the poet in the world" 200 years after Giacomo Leopardi's work.

Terrazza Lanfranchi formed the backdrop to a screening of "Italian Moon. Rocco Petrone and the Voyage of Apollo 11". 50 years after the moon landing, it is a documentary produced by the Istituto Luce-Cinecittà for A&E Networks Italia, sponsored by the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (Italian Space Agency) in collaboration with NASA, and directed by Marco Spagnoli. The evening began with the presentation of a new edition of the book "From the Earth to the Moon" by Renato Cantore dedicated to Rocco Petrone, an extraordinary story combining emigration and the American dream.

At Cava del Sole on Thursday 18 July, the multimedia performance "Apollo Soundtrack" was Matera’s celebration of scientific progress in space exploration 50 years after this extraordinary event. The highlight of the evening was a performance of a multimedia show written by Brian Eno, Roger Eno and Daniel Lanois, which was played for the first time outside the United Kingdom by the British band Icebreaker, with B.J. Cole and Roger Eno and special guest Gyda Valtysdottir, the Icelandic cellist. In the splendid open-air area of Cava del Sole, the audience experienced the emotion and mystery of the Apollo 11 mission in a synaesthesia between visual stimulation and spatial sound. The performance included blow-ups of NASA images from the day that marked the beginning of a new era, as well as content provided by Leonardo, the exclusive sponsor of the event, and images of the Earth taken from space.

On 18 July, the children's book "DI LUNA IN LUNA. STORIE DI UN’ESPLORAZIONE CHE É APPENA INIZIATA (FROM MOON TO MOON: The history of an exploration that has only just begun)" by Stefano Sandrelli, published by Feltrinelli, was presented at the Ipogei di San Francesco.