Agenda Atri — a single calendar of events

The question

How many events overlap in Atri? The feeling, for those who live and organise here, is: too many. But it is a feeling, not a number. We do not have a number.

The problem

The problem is not the organisers: they are people who put time and passion in every week. The problem is how the date is chosen. Each one chooses alone, looking at their own needs, and as far as we know there is no place to see in advance what is already on.

So overlaps are not anyone's fault: they are a consequence. They happen even with the best intentions, and on the other side the public has to look in many places to know what to do. The result is a scattering of energy: many people working well, each on their own.

The idea

A consequence like that is not fixed by an appeal to goodwill: it is fixed by a place to look before deciding. And that place, to work, has to be a single one and valid for everyone, because two calendars are one more problem. It is enough for a few people to look at it to start avoiding the first overlaps.

Agenda Atri is a single calendar of events in Atri, with three jobs:

• Measure. Gather the events in a single calendar and count the evenings with real overlaps (same time slot) and the empty ones. Only then does “too many” become a figure, or turn out not to be one. If the data show that overlaps are few, we will say so.
• Show. Before fixing the date, organisers see what is already on that day, in which venue and for which audience. An overlap is not always harmful: with different audiences it can work. The calendar helps tell them apart.
• Channel. Themed days agreed with the organisers: the public knows where to go and energies do not step on each other's toes.

Themed days

If every day has its theme, people in Atri already know where to go without looking up the programme, and organisers know where to fit in. As an example, in the mockup:

The themes are an example chosen by us: they would be decided together with the organisers and reviewed every season. A themed day only promises what is in the calendar: if the event is missing, it says “still free” and nobody makes it up. An off-theme event can always be published, like any other.

How it works

For organisers: you choose date, category and venue and the tool shows whether the venue is taken, what is already on that evening, which themed nights are still free for your category, and lets you hold the date for seven days. Events are submitted with a form or a photo of the poster; a person checks every listing before it appears.

For people looking for something to do: a calendar by day, by month and by category, with the source of every event and its status (confirmed, postponed, cancelled). Later: subscribing from your phone and a weekly round-up.

In the mockup, organisers, venues, times and events are invented: they show how it would work, not what Atri is like.

What we don't know

• How many overlaps there really are. We have not counted them. It is the first thing the agenda would produce.
• Whether organisers would use it. This is the biggest risk, bigger than the costs.
• Who would run it every week, and for how long.
• Whether a fixed day would be acceptable: many are limited by venues and volunteers.
• Whether a fixed theme helps the public or just makes things more predictable.
• What it would cost and how much time it would take. We have not worked it out.
• How many events there are in a month in Atri. We have not counted them.

Where the design comes from

The image and the mockup are inspired by four elements of Atri, without reproducing them:

• The coin. Hatria, ancient Atri, struck cast bronze coins (aes grave) with the legend HAT. On the reverse of the one-as piece the legend sits below a sleeping dog curled up; in the drawing only the legend remains, in letters inspired by those of the original. Catalogues date it to about 275–225 BC; the dating is debated.
• The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, with its stone façade and rose window and the bell tower on the left with its spire.
• The Teatro Comunale, which faces Piazza del Duomo, in front of the cathedral: a nineteenth-century building in sober neoclassical architecture. In the drawing it is a stylised version.
• The badlands of the Calanchi di Atri Nature Reserve, set up by regional law in 1995, also called “Dantesque pits”.

Sources read on 10 October 2026: Numista: Hatria as with the sleeping dog and the legend HAT, Harvard Art Museums, Ministry of Culture: Santa Maria Assunta co-cathedral, Wikipedia: Atri Cathedral, Wikimedia Commons: Teatro da piazza Duomo, La Gazzetta Italiana: Civitas Vetusta, FAI: Calanchi di Atri Nature Reserve. The design is an interpretation and the proportions are approximate: it is not a survey nor the town's coat of arms. Before wider use it should be checked with a local expert.

What we ask

If you organise events in Atri, tell us whether it would be useful. And whether a fixed day for your kind of events would suit you or cause you problems. Write it on the OpenCivTech Board, the space for registered residents (if you are not yet, sign up here). No commitment, no cost. If there is not enough interest, nothing happens, and we will say so.

This is an OpenCivTech proposal, not the Municipality's or a party's. Anyone mentioned can reply: we publish the reply in full.