The festival takes usually place in the month of June, but the nineteenth edition of the Ancient World Festival will be held on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Surgeon’s House.
As in previous years, the festival will involve some of the most important experts and educators with meetings on literary, philosophical, historical, archaeological and anthropological topics, featuring roundtables, dialogues, performances and screenings, with a particular focus on young people.
I FERRI DEL MESTIERE. La cultura del prendersi a cuore (THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE. The culture of taking care) is the title of the event that, as Festival tradition, will develop the main topic between history and present, with an outlook on the international scene. 
The main topic of this edition, inspired by the Domus as cultural heritage and by the character of the surgeon that last lived in it, leaving his wide range of tools, is the culture of taking care. Taking care of humans and public goods. An art that wil be interpreted under many lights, from medicine to cultural heritage protection, from the care of the body to the care of the spirit, from the care of the commonwealth to that of the weakest and most vulnerable people in our society.
Gustavo Zagrebelsky opens the Festival with the lecture “La salute come diritto e dovere” (health as a right and a duty), that will touch the core of the topic explaining that care is the most valuable asset for the individual and for the community. 
Meetings, discussions, round tables and book presentations along with exhibitions and thematic routes, in a rich, fully free-entry programme. And lastly, a space for kids, in the customary Piccolo mondo antico festival (little ancient world festival). It’s a festival in the festival, dedicated to kids, characterised by games, creativity, discovery and fun. Kids aged 3 or over are invited. They will become the protagonists, recurring history from prehistory to Renaissance, with workshops, guided tours and treasure hunts. The focus is on the Roman world, due to the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Domus, and on Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.