Call for Ideas – Radicepura Garden Festival VI Edition
Radicepura Foundation
📌About the Event
The Radicepura Garden Festival VI Edition Call for Ideas is an international garden design competition inviting young designers to develop innovative garden concepts for the theme “Gardens of Hope: Cultivating Coexistence.” Participants must imagine gardens where people, plants and wildlife coexist harmoniously, with an emphasis on biodiversity, patience, seasonal growth and the relationship between humans and nature. Eight selected concepts will be developed into temporary gardens for the Radicepura Garden Festival, scheduled in Sicily from May to November 2027.
ℹ️ Event Details
- Edition: Sixth edition
- Theme: Gardens of Hope: Cultivating Coexistence
- Competition type: International open call for garden design ideas
- Mode of application: Online submission
- Selection mode: Two-stage online design evaluation
- Final implementation mode: Selected gardens will be physically constructed at Radicepura in Giarre, Sicily, Italy.
- Festival period: May to November 2027
- Number of selected projects: Eight temporary garden projects
📅 Important Dates
- Call opening: 2 April 2026
- Phase 1 idea submission deadline: 30 October 2026
- Phase 1 shortlisted candidates announced: 30 November 2026
- Phase 2 detailed project submission deadline: 5 January 2027
- Final eight winners announced: 15 January 2027
🎯 Eligibility & Rules
- Eligibility:
- Participation is open internationally to individuals and teams with the skills required to design and create a garden.
- Eligible participants include:
- Architects
- Landscape architects
- Garden designers
- Agronomists
- Botanists
- Nursery professionals
- Urban planners
- Engineers
- Artists
- Curators
- Companies, associations, cooperatives, schools and universities may also participate.
- Multidisciplinary teams are encouraged.
- Applicants must be 36 years old or younger and must not have turned 37 by 30 October 2026.
- University and college students may participate with a professor or university tutor.
- A student’s tutor may be older than 36.
- Each individual designer or team member can be associated with only one application.
- Winners from previous editions of the Radicepura Garden Festival cannot participate.
🏆 Benefits for the Participants
- Eight winning garden designs will be constructed and displayed during the festival.
- Each selected project will receive a construction budget of up to €10,000.
- The €10,000 allocation is strictly for:
- Plants
- Construction materials
- Furniture and structural elements
- Labour support
- Machinery
- Soil and substrates
- Electrical and water systems
- The construction budget is not a professional fee or cash prize for the designer.
- Each selected project will receive an additional €1,000 allowance for travel, transportation and food expenses.
- Accommodation will be provided to selected designers in guestrooms at the Radicepura estate during installation.
- The gardens will receive international exposure through festival visitors, journalists, photographers and landscape-design professionals.
- At the end of the festival, the garden that develops most successfully during the six-month exhibition will receive the Gardenia Prize, a special recognition presented by the Gardenia garden magazine.