Florence’s Fabbrica Europa festival will return from 11 September to 11 October 2026 with around 70 events and more than 130 artists from 21 countries.
The 33rd edition will involve 40 companies and groups and include 18 previews, Italian premieres and world premieres, according to details released by the organisers. Performances will take place at several venues in Florence as well as at Teatro Era in Pontedera, about 60 kilometres west of Florence.
The programme spans contemporary dance, theatre, music and multidisciplinary performance, with a particular focus on Europe and the Mediterranean as spaces of cultural exchange.
Opening at the Maggio Musicale
The festival will open on 11 September with Dance People, a work by Lebanese choreographer Omar Rajeh and his company Maqamat, presented on the terrace of Florence’s Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
The production places the relationship between performers and spectators at the centre of the work, exploring community, identity and the ways people share public and cultural spaces. The Florence performance is scheduled for 7.30 p.m.
Italian director Alessandro Serra will bring Tragùdia – Il canto di Edipo to Teatro Goldoni on 25 and 26 September. The production revisits the myth of Oedipus and is performed in Grecanic, a language of Greek origin still spoken in parts of southern Italy, with Italian surtitles.
Another international production will arrive at Teatro Era in Pontedera on 2 and 3 October. Polish director Jarosław Fret, director of the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, will present The Maids – Materials, centred on seven women from different parts of the world living in a refugee shelter.
Lebanese musician Rabih Abou-Khalil is also among the artists announced for the festival, with a concert at Florence’s Teatro Puccini on 9 October.
Performances across Florence
Fabbrica Europa will use a network of theatres and cultural spaces across the city rather than a single festival venue. The programme announced so far includes events at Teatro del Maggio, Teatro Goldoni, Teatro Puccini, Teatro Cantiere Florida, Museo Marino Marini, Manifattura Tabacchi and PARC Performing Arts Research Centre, as well as the former Fiat thermal power station in the Novoli district.
Among the other early programme announcements are Portuguese musician Ana Lua Caiano at Manifattura Tabacchi on 13 September, Circle of Resonance with Arto Tunçboyaciyan, Derya Türkan and Michel Godard at Museo Marino Marini on 20 September, and performances by young choreographers at PARC on 10 and 11 October.
The festival will close on 11 October at Teatro Puccini with a double programme involving the French collective (La)Horde and choreographer Jill Crovisier with Equilibrio Dinamico.
Fabbrica Europa describes this year’s programme as an exploration of Europe and the Mediterranean through different artistic languages and perspectives. The festival is supported by Italy’s Ministry of Culture, the Tuscany regional government, the Metropolitan City and Municipality of Florence and Fondazione CR Firenze.
Practical information: Fabbrica Europa runs from 11 September to 11 October 2026 at venues in Florence and elsewhere in Tuscany. Programme updates and individual event information are available on the official Fabbrica Europa website.
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