Roma Summer Fest reports record sales

An increase in the number international visitors has helped Italy’s Roma Summer Fest achieve record ticket sales at the midway point of the 2023 season.

Acts such as Sting, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Porcupine Tree, Bob Dylan, Pet Shop Boys, The Lumineers and OneRepublic have played this year’s festival, while Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi performed four dates.

Roma Summer Fest is held at Rome’s 3,000-cap Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone from 6 June to 8 August.

Promoter Fondazione Musica per Roma (Music Foundation for Rome) says revenue has risen 28% year-on-year to more than €8.5 million from 153,000 ticket sales, while the average number of tickets sold per show is up 5% by 2,630 to 2,494. There will be 58 shows held this year compared to 52 last time around.

“These are excellent results, even more significant when considered in relation to the many large mass concerts at the Circus Maximus and in the stadiums, not only by Italian stars, but also by international ones, which last year were not so frequent,” says Daniele Pitteri, CEO of the Musica per Roma Foundation.

“Internationality is growing and evident not only in terms of artists but also in audiences”

The total attendance compares favourably with the 151,000 tickets sold at the same stage in 2022 and is on course to be up 18% by the end of the summer, with 20 concerts by acts such as Benjamin Clementine, Carmen Consoli & Elvis Costello and Paul Weller still to come.

“Internationality is growing and evident not only in terms of artists but also in audiences – an example is the figure of 35% of tickets for four Einaudi concerts sold abroad – and is accompanied by another change in spectators: the generational theme, with increasingly large audiences of young and very young people,” adds Pitteri.

The Italian capital has hosted a catalogue of huge open air concerts over the past few months including Bruce Springsteen + the E Street Band and Guns N’ Roses at Circus Maximus and Måneskin, Muse, Depeche Mode and three nights by Ultimo at the Olympic Stadium.

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