Ok. Enough about Florence, you’re here and now you bought your cheap wine, you ate all the good panini and you’ve been having a blast going left and right from piazza to piazza enjoying your time away from home. But now it’s time to leave the nest and go and venture forth in the lands that Italy has to offer. Lucky for you I’m not going down a visit “put tourist attraction name here” advice sheet. We’re going to be talking about Italian Music Festivals, some have great lineups, some have great locations, and at all of them, you’ll have the most amount of fun ever. Plus you get to see what Italian “hipsters/hypebeasts” act and look like. Not something you’ll get in the streets of Florence. We’re looking at lineups that range from oldies to some that are a bit more hype-hype-hype. Here you go 10 festivals you’re gonna wanna check out in Italy.
Ferrara sotto le Stelle (Piazza Castello di Ferrara)
5 & 13 June – 9 & 17 July
Get on board the hype train in Ferrara, you’ll get a chance to see some classic indie names like LCD Sounsystem and Kasabian, if that’s your jam or maybe you’re wanna be a bit more mellow and enjoy the slow grooves of Cigarettes After Sex. And who knows, maybe you’ve been here enough to enjoy Italian It-pop artist Cosmo, with his electronic sound. So get on a train, buy a ticket and go see the city of Ferrara.
Firenze Rocks (Visarno Arena di Firenze)
14 – 17 June
Ah so we can’t leave Florence out of the Festival list of this Summer, from the 14th to the 17th of June at the Visarno Arena in the Cascine Park, you’ll get a chance to see some of the Gods of Oldies Rock, we’re talking Ozzy Osbourne, Foo Fighters, Guns n Roses and all of them will be supported by some of the most important names of 2000s dirty indie. We’re talking about The Kills. If you’re here and you don’t know what to do go and have all the fun you can.
I-Days Milano (Area Expo Experience di Milano)
21 – 24 June
The I-Days in Milan is one of Italy’s biggest festivals, bringing in many of the Worlds most famous artists. You’ll get to perk up with The Killers and feel like a Nancy Boy while jamming to some Placebo. Maybe you’re more into some electronic music and you’ll get a chance to groove to the master of Minimal House Paul Kalkbrenner. All the names that make you feel like the 2000s never ended.
Postepay Rock in Roma (Ippodromo delle Capannelle di Roma)
20 June – 26 July
Why not? I mean sometimes even the Post Office knows what it’s doing. Postepay Rock in Roma is the big name festival with a mix of Pop and Oldies, no worry they cater to all ages and all genres. We’re talking Jeff Beck, and Roger Waters for the Oldies side (What am I talking about? I love Roger Waters) and for the pop sphere we’ve got Macklemore and Post Malone. Actually, the fact that someone called Post Malone in Italy is quite up to date. Good Job Poste Italiane.
Surfer Joe Summer Festival (Livorno)
21 – 24 June
So if you’re in Tuscany and you want to enjoy some of the best seafood the region has to offer, you can’t have not been to Livorno! It’s famous Baccalà and Cacciucco is like mouthwatering. Okay, stop. We’re talking Festivals. So if you want to eat some great food and enjoy some sweet ass surf music Livorno has got you covered from the 21st to the 24th of June. A mix of Italian and not artists that specialize in the genre. don’t forget the cacciucco/baccalà
Lucca Summer Festival (Piazza Napoleone, Lucca)
23 June – 25 July
Ok enough about food. We’re moving on to Lucca now and here you’ve got the biggest Summer Festival Tuscany has to offer. We’ve got Gorillaz, Ringo Starr, Lenny Kravitz w/ Gary Clark Jr, Nick Cave, and Queens of the Stone Age. The Festival itself, other than having all these names, also has an amazing setting. It’s placed within the walls of Lucca. At that point why not enjoy the city first and at night enjoy a gig in the main square.
Goa – Boa (Genova)
1 – 31 July
Full on Italian Festival, all the artists are gonna be Italian and all the lyrics will be as well, but hey I mean you’re here probably wanting to pick up the language and the culture, so drop the spaghetti and the mandolino, and get your ass to Genoa to find out what Italians are into these days. If you don’t like it when you’re there, think of it as a sociological experiment and that’s that.
Vasto Siren Festival (Piazza del Popolo a Vasto, Ch)
26 – 29 July
Now for the last three Festivals, we’re gonna show you that Italy isn’t actually just stuck in the mid-2000s. We’ll start with Vasto’s Siren Festival that will be taking place in Umbria near Chieti, so you’ll also get a chance to see a part of Italy that isn’t usually on the tour guides. Anyway enough tourism and let’s talk tracks. We’ve got Slowdive dropping their sweet sweet tunes (a bit of trivia, Slowdive leaked the line up before the Siren had a chance to publish it), and we’ve got from the dirty streets of the UK: TOY.
Beaches Brew (Hanabi Marina di Ravenna, RA)
4 – 7 June
Aaaaah Beaches Brew, one of my favorite festivals in terms of lineup. They had the likes of Ty Segall, Pond and King Gizzard in the past. This year they’ll be showing off some great new talent like KHRUANGBIN, The Comet is Coming and Ezra Furman. The best thing about this Festival is not only its location on the beach but the fact that it’s totally free. Yep, FREE.
Ypsigrock Festival (Piazza Castello a Castelbuono, PA)
9 – 12 August
Finally, let’s go down to Sicily and enjoy another festival with a suggestive location. Here though you won’t be surrounded by a myriad of classic gigs, but a bit more up to date situations. They’ve got a sweet line up this year, with headliners such as Jesus & Mary Chain and The Horrors, so get your ass on the first Traghetto you can to Palermo and enjoy all the music you can.
