Crying out for a-more: Italy market report – part 2

IQ presents the second part of our Italy market report, where we delve into the country’s festival and venue scenes. Catch up on part one here.

Festivals
Against a backdrop of scorching summers and artist fee challenges, festivals have never found the same traction in Italy as in other European countries. Multi-stage events are rare, as is on-site camping, so the typical Italian festival is typically a concert series, often spread over several weeks, with a handful of acts and one clear headliner each day.

“Italy doesn’t have a lot of the kind of festivals like Lolla or the UK, Belgian, or Dutch ones,” says Roberto De Luca, president of Live Nation Italy. “We have Firenze Rocks, which is like that, but the others, we have a lot of series of events. They are more headline shows, in the same place, on different days.”

Firenze Rocks, Italy’s foremost rock festival, brings Guns N’ Roses, Korn, Green Day, and others down to Tuscany this summer, while I-Days in Milan sprawls across June and July, with shows from Justin Timberlake, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Duran Duran, Linkin Park, and others.

In a country where ticket prices can struggle to meet international artist fees in the middle, concert series are a flexible way to drop touring artists into a format that works for schedules and budgets.

“You know, with events like I-Days, there will be Imagine Dragons playing, either under the flag of I-Days or not,” says De Luca. “In or out, it depends. But in the same area, you know. Lana Del Rey did fantastically well at I-Days last year. This year, we have Dua Lipa performing there, Linkin Park are doing fantastically well. We have many, many artists doing this kind of event. More international than local, in this case. Our local artists prefer playing stadiums.”

“Italy doesn’t have a lot of the kind of festivals like Lolla or the UK, Belgian, or Dutch ones”

Roma Summer Fest is another major Italian concert series, drawing around 170,000 to Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone. This year’s lineup ranges from Air, The National, and The Smile to Take That, Tyga, and Ludovico Einaudi, running through June and July with stray shows in September and even October.

Roma Summer Fest promoter Fondazione Musica per Roma (Music Foundation for Rome) announced last summer that it had exceeded €30m in annual turnover for the first time in its history. The Italian organisation, which manages Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica and Casa del Jazz venues, reports that revenues topped €32m for 2023 – up 13% on the previous 12 months, while ticket sales increased 25% to close to half a million, generating €13m.

Rock in Roma, launched by Maximiliano Bucci and Sergio Giulianiin2009, brings Black Keys, Sfera Ebbasta, Ghali, Smashing Pumpkins, Tananai, Irama, and others to venues including the Ippodromo Delle Capannelle and the Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Vivo Concerti’s Clemente Zard has spoken of attempting to transform the Italian festival market. Its Fiera Milano concert series stretched to 11 shows last year, with local and international names ranging from Arcade Fire and Black Eyed Peas to Anna and Geolier. This year, J Balvin is on board, with other names to be announced, while August’s Red Valley Festival at Olbia Arena, Sardinia, is a four-day showcase of Vivo’s Italian talent pool.

“Red Valley Festival and Fiera Milano are incredible milestones, demonstrating Vivo Concerti’s ability to innovate across different event formats,” says Zard.“While these festivals set a strong foundation, there’s always room to grow, whether by expanding existing events or exploring new niches that align with evolving audience preferences.”

“Lucca Summer Festival [LSF] and La Prima Estate had outstanding editions last year”

Di & Gi runs the month-long Lucca Summer Festival, founded in 1998. This year’s event brings Alanis Morissette, Antonello Venditti, Till Lindemann, Bryan Adams, Nile Rodgers & Chic, and Scorpions to the Piazza Napoleone, largely in July.

La Prima Estate, its boutique festival billed as “more than a music festival; a holiday experience,” leaned into rock last year, with Fontaines D.C., Kasabian, Dinosaur Jr, and Jane’s Addiction on the bill at Bussola Domani Park in Lido Di Camaiore, Versilia, 30km from Lucca.

“Lucca Summer Festival [LSF] and La Prima Estate had outstanding editions last year,” says CEO Mimmo D’Alessandro. “LSF broke records with 225,000 attendees and featured incredible artists like Ed Sheeran, Eric Clapton, Duran Duran, Smashing Pumpkins, Rod Stewart, and Lenny Kravitz. La Prima Estate continued to solidify its presence with a lot of memorable performances.

“Looking ahead, this year promises another fantastic edition of LSF,” he adds. “Meanwhile, La Prima Estate continues its growth, heading into its fourth edition with a strong indie/alternative lineup featuring artists like Kings of Leon, Air, St. Vincent, Mogwai, Spiritualized, and Yard Act.

“In terms of the types of event people are willing to pay for, there is a growing appetite for unique and immersive experiences. Festivals, boutique events, and concerts that offer something beyond just the performance are becoming increasingly popular. Moreover, the location is becoming an increasingly crucial aspect of the experience. Audiences are seeking venues that can make a performance truly unique, such as historic sites not traditionally associated with music.”

“In terms of the types of event people are willing to pay for, there is a growing appetite for unique and immersive experiences.”

Barley Arts this year shapes up for the fourth edition of Comfort Festival, which moves from Ferrara to a site in the garden of a 16th-century villa in Milan. The boutique festival will be spread over five days during the month of July, with international artists including Warren Haynes Band, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Wolfmother, and Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s SatchVai Band.

Among other events to note are the one-day pop-punk, emo, metal and ska-themed Slam Dunk Festival, whose European takeover comes to a close in Italy at Milan’s Carroponte in June. Bands confirmed so far include A Day to Remember, New Found Glory, The Used, Landmvrks, Neck Deep, The Ataris, and Zebrahead.

Late last year, October/ November’s C2C Festival in Turin toasted its biggest-ever edition, with a record number of visitors. The 22nd event attracted 41,000 (up from 35,000 in 2023) for its third consecutive sell-out. A record 33% of the audience came from 47 countries, according to organisers.

Other Italian festivals include techno event Kappa Futur Festival in Turin, drum and bass festival SUNANDBASS in Sardinia, Mi Ami in Milan, and indie event Ypsigrock in Castelbuono, Sicily. Music Innovation Hub’s Linecheck, meanwhile, leads the line for industry conferences, taking place in Milan in November.

“We can’t wait for the Eventim Arena to open in Milan”

Venues
CTS Eventim’s Arena Milano will, according to its developer, become Italy’s largest indoor venue when it opens next year, and in a country that has fully embraced the boom in large-scale events, a purpose-built arena in the capital of its entertainment business is big news. “We can’t wait for the Eventim Arena to open in Milan,” says Clemente Zard.

The €180m, 16,000-cap, multi-purpose facility, which was initially announced in 2021, will also include an outdoor area of more than 10,000 square metres for open-air events. It joins the 12,800-cap, 35-year-old Unipol Forum in the southern Milanese town of Assago, which remains formidably busy through 2025 with local and international headliners.

Initially, the new arena – part of the Milano Santa Giulia urban development project – will be used for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, with concerts and major events planned for spring 2026. CTS Eventim recently appointed Luca Martinazzoli as managing director of Arena Milano ahead of the new venue’s completion.

Other key arenas on the Italian circuit include Turin’s 15,666-cap Inalpi Arena, the 20,000-cap Unipol Arena in Bologna, the 11,500-seated Palazzo dello Sport in Rome, and the 8,200-cap Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence.

In Rome, the ancient Circus Maximus remains a heavily scalable option. It is reputed to be the biggest venue ever built, with a fourth-century BC capacity of 250,000 for chariot races, though in 2023, there were calls to ban concerts at the site after a rowdy show by Travis Scott triggered earthquake fears. Forthcoming events include Duran Duran, Brunori Sas, and Gazzelle in June.

“Nowadays, [San Siro] is almost exclusively in the hands of Italian artists who perform dozens of shows across Italy during the same summer”

Perhaps inevitably, the boom in stadium-sized spectacles mean demand has quickly begun to outstrip the supply and availability of venues across the nation.

In an open letter to Giuseppe Sala, mayor of Milan, and others, MC2’s Andrea Pieroni last year queried the assignment of dates at the San Siro and called for greater openness between the stadium and the promoting fraternity. Nothing has changed, says Pieroni, whose attempt to place a Rammstein show at the stadium last July was apparently unsuccessful. The concert ultimately took place at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia.

“I tried to stir things up a bit, but the situation at San Siro remains the same,” says Pieroni. “Nowadays, the venue is almost exclusively in the hands of Italian artists who perform dozens of shows across Italy during the same summer.

“It forces internationally renowned artists to avoid performing in Milan during the summer months, which is a shame, both for the city and for the fans. I tried to explain these points to the mayor but without much success. It’s a pity.”

Even those with ready access to the San Siro and other Italian stadia face struggles securing sufficient dates, in Milan and elsewhere.

“Our duty is to work to find other stadiums, other towns, like Rome, of course, or Padova or Florence”

“In Milano, we have some difficulties,” says De Luca, “because the city council capped the number of shows in the San Siro area – the stadium, the big horse track, La Maura, and the small horse track, Snai. We can play, let’s say, eight shows in one place, six shows in another, and the other 19 in the stadium. So, you can imagine that you quickly arrive at the point that we cannot promote any additional artists, because the number of shows is already done. So we have to go somewhere else.

“In Bologna, we have the same situation,” he adds. “We can play even fewer shows, seven in total during the summer. So, our duty is to work to find other stadiums, other towns, like Rome, of course, or Padova or Florence. But in Florence, we cannot use the stadium in ‘25 or ‘26 because they are doing renovations.”

One result of the finite capacity in the two biggest cities, says Zard, is that the map is expanding in healthy directions. “Beyond Milan and Rome, which continue to thrive with a growing number of events, smaller towns are emerging as vibrant hubs for more intimate performances,” he says.

“Naples, in particular, is gaining global recognition. Its rise as a cultural hotspot, fuelled by its success in cinema, football, and its local culture, is drawing more international acts such as Anfisa. The city’s warm and passionate community, combined with its unique atmosphere, is placing Naples on the map in the live entertainment industry.”

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