On 14th and 15th September 1979, in San Francesco Square in Ravenna the first Mercatino della Poesia takes place. In an exceptional environment, a project conceived by Maria Giovanna Maioli together with Paola Rossi Gazzoni (and with the prompt adhesion of some friends) is so realized.

The word “mercatino” (little market) corresponds exactly with the character of the event: stalls in the square for the display, selling, exchange of published, unpublished, printed, cyclostyled or handwritten poems; programmed readings of more or less known guests; microphone available for anyone who feels like uttering verses. The whole thing is a novelty and is welcomed quite for its free and little official quality: there is a large participation of poets, magazines and poetry associations, and even national-level press is remarkably interested.

During four years in squares, little known or unknown poets and some of the biggest names of Italian poetry follow one another; and while there are those who unveil the monumentaneo to Vito Riviello, the beat-generation nostalgic can catch a glimpse of Gregory Corso browsing among the stalls (see Galleria documenti).

At a certain point, it becomes imperative to check the unrealistic ambitions allowed by the free access to microphones. And it is also time to turn into an indoor event: in the foyer before and in the Alighieri Theater later. Closed the phase of the happening, and of the unforeseen, the phase of show opens, with a director and a defined program. The event, however, keeps on being called “Mercatino”, both because it is largely known by this name and to still suggest the idea of poets who “sell” themselves to the public. The length changes: from the original two-three days to a one-evening show.

Always included in an institutional context, in 1994 the Mercatino della Poesia enters into an agreement with Ravenna Municipality, that so becomes its main supporter. In the same year it constitutes an Association, and finally in 2004, in recognition of well-established features and of a very close link with the institutions and the cultural life of the city, it becomes RavennaPoesia.

An important novelty is the space devoted to poets of the past who, from 1991, are chosen according to a theme, different every year; a formula which still finds favor with the public. Best successes are, in recent years, Novecento with Mario Luzi in 2004 and W VERDE! with Dacia Maraini in 2007.

The increasing trend towards turning the event into a show leads, in the late Nineties, to form a company of readers. The introduction of live or recorded music adds a new dimension. The choice of texts, finally, opens to prose and theater. The whole results in an event where cultural interest is closely linked to entertainment. The present formula includes: some guest poets who, tuned in to the year’s theme, read their texts; a special guest who has absolute "freedom of speech" (skillfully used, in most recent productions, by Mario Luzi, Tonino Guerra, Maria Luisa Spaziani); the readers who interpret the classical authors.

The activities also spread to other spaces. During the year 2000, in San Francesco’s Basilica, Mario Luzi’s Passione at Easter and Notte Santa at Christmas are performed. La Passione is performed again in Faenza (Easter 2004). So many are by now the recitals and "poetry concerts" whereby Maria Giovanna Maioli exports poetry also out of the city boundaries. In order to have the youngest get closer to poetry, abridged versions of Mercatino are presented in schools.

Since 1987, for a faithful public, the Stagione di Poesia has been organized, a long series of meetings with poets, as well as novelists and essayists, even musicians, local or not (Dacia Maraini, Roberto Pazzi, Giorgio Celli, Sylvano Bussotti and many others). The Stagione usually takes place from October to May.

In recent years, remarkable partnership relations are established. With Dante 09, that hosts, among others, programs devoted to John Donne and T.S. Eliot. With Ravenna Festival, commissioning Mistiche voci in 2008. With the summer festival Ravenna Bella di Sera, for D'Annunzio, Poe and others. With Teatro del Drago: in April 2009 the enjoyable experiment of Pentola d'Oro (the Pot of Gold) is set up, a minifestival for little readers of poems.

In 2002 the production of audiobooks is started, where original music serves as a soundtrack for readings. Harmonia Mundi - Poesie della Natura collects texts by great Italian poets such as Montale, D’Annunzio, Ungaretti, Pascoli. La Passione crowns an intense relationship of friendship and work with Mario Luzi. These and other titles in preparation now find, thanks to arrangements with commercial partners, a virtually global audience through the channels of digital download such as iTunes, the most important worldwide music store.