CIRK FANTASTIK! The 20th edition in Florence and Scandicci

For the twentieth anniversary of the contemporary circus festival Cirk Fantastik!: three circus tents, 39 shows by Italian and international contemporary circus companies, 73 performances, a theater on wheels, free shows and concerts, works in progress, free workshops for children, DJ sets and sound systems. Food trucks and a Circus Bar on site. Costellazioni — constellations — is this year’s theme: constellations of languages, artistic visions and reflections that run through the cosmogony of our present.

Circus and the performing arts that explore the human being, their relationships and the setting that welcomes, limits or transforms them. Microcosms of resistance to single-track thinking come together, generating new forms of imagination and creative regeneration. The contemporary circus festival Cirk Fantastik! reaches its 20th edition and, for this special anniversary, will host three circus tents, 39 shows by Italian and international contemporary circus companies, 73 performances,  a theater on wheels, free shows and concerts, workshops and works in progress. 

Through September, between the center of Scandicci and Florence’s Parco delle Cascine, a broad and varied programme is designed to involve families, children, adults and professionals in the field, offering a cultural programme that is accessible and yet strongly qualified.

The programme in Scandicci

In Piazza Matteotti, on the preview evening of 6 September at 7pm, Selvaggia Mezzapesa — contemporary circus artist, aerial acrobat, clown and performer — presents Cuore Matto, a poetic show that weaves aerial acrobatics, dance, theater and live music into a moving journey through the endless shades of love.

The programme in Florence

At the Parco delle Cascine – Prato del Quercione, from 10 to 20 September, Cirk Fantastik! comes to life under three chapiteaux. Alongside the big tops of Side Kunst-Cirque and Circo Madera stands the InStabile tent, which will host talks, exhibitions, live music and workshops, doubling as the festival foyer. Three covered spaces that make the programme richer still and allow shows and activities to carry on even in the rain.

Among the leading names is the Italian-French company My!Laika, one of the most experimental forces in European contemporary circus, known for a language that interlaces circus, action theater, live music and visual composition.

At Cirk Fantastik! they will present La Soirée (Friday 11 and Saturday 12), a cabaret with eleven performers on stage; Winter (Thursday 17 to Sunday 20), a poetic, visionary creation under the chapiteau; and Tre Storie (Saturday 19 and Sunday 20), a project that rereads the techniques and imagery of puppet theater in a contemporary key.

Circo Bottoni, a self-run collective of young contemporary circus artists, presents The Big Bang, an acrobatic and surreal comedy about living together, where humor, physical theater and invention merge into a collective party (Saturday 12 and Sunday 13).

After the success of the previous edition, Circo Madera returns with Orfeos – Epic night live show (Thursday 10 and Friday 11), a circus and musical rereading of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice inspired by Monteverdi’s opera. The company will also present its new creation Scartabaret. Per un’ecologia artistica (Saturday 19 and Sunday 20), born of a reflection on creative reuse and artistic ecology, together with Bip (Wednesday 16), a show of circus and physical theater, and Cheap Chips (Saturday 19 and Sunday 20), a clowning show made to draw in audiences of every age.

For the first time the festival welcomes Lupa Maimone, an under-40 artist from the company Oltrenotte, with Finzioni (Saturday 19 and Sunday 20), winner of the Bando Trampolino Vetrina 2025 and awarded for its multidisciplinary research. The show explores the relationship between body, object, magic and figure, building a visual universe suspended between transformation, illusion and imagination.

Compagnia A Tope also returns with Prova di una catastrofe (Saturday 12), a piece that brings the creative process, the effort and the vulnerability of the artist on stage, questioning the traditional codes of circus, and with Shhh! Una onomatopea fisica (Sunday 13), a wordless show in which acrobatics, clowning and physical theater tell of the complexity and the beauty of human relationships.

The Swiss company Tita8lou will present Siku (Friday 18 to Sunday 20), a show devoted to Inuit culture and to the relationship between people and nature. Duo CIRCOlante offer Post-Office (Friday 11 and Saturday 12), an acrobatic, tongue-in-cheek tale set in a post office, while Cia Memoria de Pez bring the show of the same name (Saturday 12 and Sunday 13), weaving juggling, object manipulation and clowning into a journey between memory, the sea and imagination.

Other dates include Bruna per carità by Tedavi’98 (Tuesday 15), a musical show between comedy and storytelling; Miss Margherita by Jessica Arpin (Thursday 17), a creation that brings together circus and comic theater; and A ruota libera by Roberto Sblattero (Sunday 13), built around the German wheel, comedy and circus virtuosity.

The programme also hosts Gino & Giulivo with Shakenomenowaya – Evolution Clown (Monday 14) and G&G On The Road (Sunday 13); Giulivo Clown with Giulivo Show (Tuesday 15), built on improvisation and on drawing the audience directly in; Los Colga-Dos with Street Sale (Friday 18), a tender acrobatic comedy set in a second-hand market; and Bottega Imata with Il respiro della manovella (Friday 18 to Sunday 20), a puppet theater experience for sixteen spectators at a time.

Completing the bill are Cia Frutillas con Crema with Petit (Friday 18 to Sunday 20), Duo Bau with Duo Bau Show (Thursday 10), Duo Agua Und Fire with C.I.R.C.O. – Come inseguiamo ridendo certi orizzonti (Friday 11) and Giorgioliere with Undici (Saturday 12) and Fallacia (Sunday 13). Proposals that range across street circus, hand-to-hand, acrobatics, live music, clowning and research into juggling, giving back the variety of the contemporary circus scene and setting Italian and international artists, established productions and new generations, in dialogue with one another.

Information and tickets

Advance tickets on TicketOne and at the festival box office. Bookings from 17 August: info@cirkfantastik.com or WhatsApp 389 1824669. Booked tickets must be collected no later than one hour before the show.

Concessions for affiliated schemes, under-25s and over-65s; 6 euros for ages 4 to 12, free up to 3 years old. 3-for-2 deals and season tickets for 4 or 8 shows are available.

Full programme at www.cirkfantastik.com