October Concerts in Florence
In October, live music in Florence moves back indoors, into theaters, clubs and arenas. Below are the month’s concerts in date order, from Pooh, the Italian pop band celebrating sixty years at the Mandela Forum, to Norma Winstone in the Sala del Paradiso of the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. For each one, a few lines on who is playing and the link for tickets.
Maria Cortesi and Simone Graziano –
voice, piano and strings at the Marino Marini
On Thursday, October 1, the Museo Marino Marini hosts Human Echoes, one of the concerts of Fabbrica Europa 2026. Maria Cortesi, a singer and composer born in 2002, shares the stage with Simone Graziano, the pianist who mentored her during her training years at Siena Jazz and who has played with Stefano Bollani, Enrico Pieranunzi and Kenny Wheeler. With violin, viola, cello and drums, they present a songbook of new material written in response to current events.
Where Museo Marino Marini, piazza San Pancrazio
When Thursday, October 1, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Pooh –
sixty years in two nights
On Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3, the Mandela Forum hosts two of the fourteen dates of Pooh 60 – La nostra storia (“Our Story”), the tour marking sixty years since the band formed in 1966. On stage are Roby Facchinetti, Dodi Battaglia, Red Canzian and Riccardo Fogli. Graphics and stage design retrace the group’s history, as they did on the 1991 tour for its twenty-fifth anniversary.
Where Nelson Mandela Forum, piazza Enrico Berlinguer
When Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Ligabue –
one night, no repeats
On Tuesday, October 6, Luciano Ligabue brings La notte di Certe Notti to the Mandela Forum, the grand finale that has been touring Italy’s arenas since September. Fourteen cities and fourteen nights, each designed to be unrepeatable. The run opened on September 22 at the Arena di Verona and closes on October 24 at the Arena Milano, Ligabue’s last live date of 2026.
Where Nelson Mandela Forum
When Tuesday, October 6, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Benji & Fede –
their pop goes to the theater
On Wednesday, October 7, Benji & Fede arrive at the Teatro Cartiere Carrara with Sempre in due – Live a Teatro 2026. The duo has chosen the theater to tell the most mature chapter of their career, in a show that weaves songs and storytelling together.
Where Teatro Cartiere Carrara, via Fabrizio De André at the corner of lungarno Aldo Moro
When Wednesday, October 7, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Anastacia –
twenty-five years of Not That Kind
On Friday, October 9, Anastacia sings at the Teatro Verdi on the NTK Tour 2026, which celebrates twenty-five years of Not That Kind, her debut album. It is one of three Italian dates on the European tour, following a 2025 with more than sixty sold-out shows across Europe and the UK. The setlist runs through the hits, from I’m Outta Love to Left Outside Alone, from Paid My Dues to One Day in Your Life.
Where Teatro Verdi, via Ghibellina 99
When Friday, October 9, 8:45 pm
Tickets on the event page
Dov’è Liana –
Palermo house in Grassina
On Saturday, October 10, Dov’è Liana play the Casa del Popolo di Grassina, a community club just outside the city, brought in by Lattexplus. They are three friends who grew up in Paris, Antoine, Philippe and Jules: in 2020 they got stuck in Palermo during lockdown, and there they met a girl named Liana, never seen again, who gave the band its name (“Where’s Liana?”). They blend French touch and Italo disco, sing in Italian, French and English, and call their sound “house palermitana,” Palermo house. After their debut album Love 679 they signed with Carosello Records. The night is for ages 18 and over.
Where Casa del Popolo di Grassina, piazza Umberto I 13, Bagno a Ripoli
When Saturday, October 10, doors 7 pm
Tickets on the event page
ASTRO –
Salsomaggiore rap at the Viper
On Monday, October 12, the Viper Theatre hosts ASTRO, a rapper born in 2000 to parents from Morocco and raised in Salsomaggiore Terme. In 2021 he signed with Ghali’s label; in 2024 came his first album, ASTRO, with Paninaro featuring Artie 5ive and Tony Boy and 1 MOMENTO with Anna. The club tour supports WAR, his second record, which takes its cue from David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Among his collaborators is also Kid Yugi, who plays the Mandela Forum three days later.
Where Viper Theatre, via Pistoiese 309/4
When Monday, October 12, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Kid Yugi –
his first arena tour
On Thursday, October 15, Kid Yugi brings the Anche gli eroi muoiono Tour (“Even Heroes Die”) to the Mandela Forum, his first run of arena dates. The album it is named after went platinum in its release week, with more than 67,000 copies sold in seven days and the top spot on the chart.
Where Nelson Mandela Forum
When Thursday, October 15, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Paolo Fresu –
the trumpet that tells stories
On Friday, October 16, A Jazz Supreme, the series run by Musicus Concentus, turns ten and celebrates with Trumpet Talk: Paolo Fresu in Sala Vanni, mixing music and conversation with Fernando Fanutti, president of Musicus Concentus. It is Fresu’s first time on that stage, though not in the series: in 2018 he opened its second edition in a duo with Gianluca Petrella at the Teatro Verdi. The evening was conceived specifically for the tenth anniversary, and looks back on a career of more than forty years.
Where Sala Vanni, piazza del Carmine 14
When Friday, October 16, 9:15 pm
Tickets on the event page
Brunori Sas –
songs and monologues
On Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, Dario Brunori returns to the Teatro Verdi with Tuttobrunori, canzoni e monologhi (“All Brunori, songs and monologues”), a new show in which songs alternate with memories, reflections, stand-up and monologues. On stage is his longtime band. Florence is one of fifteen cities on the theater run, between October and November.
Where Teatro Verdi
When Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, 8:45 pm
Tickets on the event page
Artie 5ive –
waiting for Vittoria
On Thursday, October 22, Artie 5ive arrives at the Teatro Cartiere Carrara with the Aspettando Vittoria Tour, which wraps up on November 10 with a special show at the Unipol Forum in Milan. The tour leads up to Vittoria, his next album, previewed by the single Swag Music. Meanwhile La bellavita, released in March 2025, is triple platinum and ranks among the ten best-selling albums of the first half of 2026.
Where Teatro Cartiere Carrara
When Thursday, October 22, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Orchestra della Toscana –
Brahms and the Pathétique open the season
On Thursday, October 22, the Orchestra della Toscana opens its symphonic season at the Teatro Verdi, with its principal conductor Diego Ceretta on the podium. The soloist is violinist Francesca Dego: she plays Brahms’s Violin Concerto, Op. 77 and Io cammino muovendo le dita (“I Walk Moving My Fingers”), a piece for solo violin that Nicola Campogrande wrote in 2025 and that had never been performed in Italy. The evening closes with the Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”, Tchaikovsky’s last.
Where Teatro Verdi
When Thursday, October 22, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Francesco Renga –
the hits in an intimate hall
On Sunday, October 25, Francesco Renga sings at the Teatro Verdi with Francesco Renga Live Teatri 2026. After the Angelo–Venti tour, he has chosen smaller, more intimate halls to revisit the best-known songs of his catalog. In February he competed at the 76th Sanremo Music Festival with Il meglio di me.
Where Teatro Verdi
When Sunday, October 25, 8:45 pm
Tickets on the event page
Mr. Rain –
his first time in a theater
On Monday, October 26, Mr. Rain takes the stage at the Teatro Verdi. It is his first theater tour: between October and November he brings a more intimate show, built for the theater, to Italy’s major cities. Behind him are 24 platinum and 5 gold records.
Where Teatro Verdi
When Monday, October 26, 8:45 pm
Tickets on the event page
Norma Winstone and Glauco Venier –
jazz in the Sala del Paradiso
On Thursday, October 29, A Jazz Supreme brings Norma Winstone and Glauco Venier to the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. The British singer was a member of Azimuth, the trio with Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor; she has worked with the pianist from Friuli since the late 1990s, and together they have recorded four albums for ECM, including the Grammy-nominated Distances. This time they appear as a duo, voice and piano. Admission is free, but booking is required: reservations open in October.
Where Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Sala del Paradiso, piazza del Duomo 9
When Thursday, October 29, 9:15 pm
Tickets free admission, book on the event page
Willie Peyote –
Turin rap closes the month
On Friday, October 30, Willie Peyote plays the Teatro Cartiere Carrara on his Club Tour 2026, nine dates between October and November that followed the single Burrasca. Guglielmo Bruno, from Turin, has been blending rap and singer-songwriter tradition since the days of Educazione sabauda and Sindrome di Tôret; in 2021 he competed at Sanremo with Mai dire mai (la locura).
Where Teatro Cartiere Carrara
When Friday, October 30, 9 pm
Tickets on the event page
Before you go
Sixteen shows, from jazz in museums to the big arenas. We took dates and times from the pages of theaters, promoters and concert series in mid-September: if a date moves or a concert sells out, the ticket page will say so before anyone else.
