Genius Loci, the cultural festival back in Santa Croce

From September 26 to 28, the rediscovery of an extraordinary place with exceptional protagonists and original performances

Genius Loci: Discovering Santa Croce, the festival that for nine years has invited visitors to rediscover one of Florence’s most iconic landmarks through the languages of contemporary culture, returns from September 24 to 27, 2026 at the Santa Croce Monumental Complex. Four days, 20 events spread across three evenings and a concert at dawn, with free admission by reservation.

The 2026 edition takes place in the year marking the800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis and focuses on his universal values of brotherhood and peace, weaving them together with the major themes of our time: from artificial intelligence to wars, from the environmental crisis to new forms of community.

The program takes place across the Last Supper, the Second Cloister, and the Pazzi Chapel, transforming them into spaces where philosophy, literature, music, theater, and art converge. Notable guests include Abel Ferrara, who will lead a reading dedicated to St. Francis based on the words of Gabriele Tinti; Maurizio Ferraris, Daniela Cotimbo, and Marco Malvaldi, who will discuss artificial intelligence; Ascanio Celestini, who will share stories of the poor and the marginalized; and Mauro Ceruti, who will deliver a lecture on Edgar Morin’s concept of “planetary humanism.”

Genius Loci

Music will also take center stage, with a tribute to John Coltrane by James Brandon Lewis and Chad Taylor; a dawn concert by Alberto Ferrari of Verdena; the contemporary sounds of the Korean duo Dal; a brand-new trio led by drummer Hamid Drake; a project by the Ukrainian duo Heinali and Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko; and performances by Naomi Berrill, Davide Ambrogio, and Saba Anglana. There will also be a tribute to Leonard Cohen, ten years after his passing.

Among the events most closely linked to the figure of St. Francis are the new production by the Compagnia Lombardi Tiezzi, “Sine Glossa. The Words of Francis,” and guided tours dedicated to the depiction of the Franciscan message in the works of art housed at Santa Croce.

More than just a festival, Genius Loci aims to be an invitation to inhabit and rediscover a place, freeing it from the logic of hit-and-run tourism and restoring it to the city as a living space for connection, dialogue, and community. The goal is to let the history and spirituality of Santa Croce engage with the present, generating new questions and new perspectives.

Admission is free, but reservations are required; reservations will be available starting September 8 on the festival’s official website.