Summer Sounds in Sassari: The Festival Abbabula Highlights You Can't Miss

Sardinia's second city does not always get the attention it deserves, and that is exactly what makes a Sassari summer so good: world-class live music, historic open-air settings, and none of the crush you will find on the coast in July. This week, Festival Abbabula — the city's much-loved music festival, a fixture of the Sardinian summer for more than two decades — brings two very different and equally unmissable nights to Piazza Università, the elegant square in front of the university in the heart of the old town. The first, on Tuesday 21 July, is TonyPitony. Fresh, loud and gleefully irreverent, TonyPitony has become one of the most talked-about live acts of the Italian summer circuit, and the festival slot promises a night that is at least as much a party as a concert. If you want to understand what younger Italian audiences are queueing for right now, this is the show to see — and an open square in the middle of Sassari's historic centre is a gloriously incongruous place to see it. Two nights later, on Thursday 23 July, comes a genuine jewel: Nu Genea. The Naples-born duo have built an international reputation on their irresistible blend of funk, disco and Mediterranean groove, digging deep into the sounds of 1970s and 80s Napoli and firing them through a modern dancefloor lens. Their records have made them festival favourites from Barcelona to Tokyo, but there is something particularly right about hearing that sun-soaked southern sound on a warm Sardinian night. Expect the entire piazza to be dancing by the second song. Festival Abbabula itself is worth knowing about beyond any single line-up. Organised in Sassari since the late nineties, it has a long history of pairing big Italian names with adventurous international bookings, and its stages — often set in the city's most beautiful spaces — have hosted everyone from songwriters to full orchestras. The Piazza Università setting is typical of the festival's charm: you watch the show framed by the eighteenth-century university facade, with the alleys of the old town waiting for the post-concert crowd. And if you are already thinking further ahead, there is a date for your diary in the cooler months too: comedian Luca Ravenna brings his "Flamingo" show to Sassari's Teatro Comunale on Saturday 13 February 2027. Ravenna has become one of the sharpest voices in Italian stand-up, and the Teatro Comunale — the city's grand nineteenth-century theatre — is a wonderfully intimate place to catch him. Winter in Sassari has its pleasures as well. For visitors, the festival is a perfect excuse to give Sassari the day it deserves. The Duomo di San Nicola with its exuberant Baroque facade, the Museo Sanna's remarkable archaeological collection, and the cafe terraces of Piazza d'Italia are all within a few minutes' walk of the festival square — and the beaches of Alghero and Stintino, some of the finest in the Mediterranean, are under an hour away for the morning after. Dates, venues and official ticket links for both Abbabula nights — and for live events across all of Italy — are listed on The Local Art Hub events pages, updated daily. And if the festival spirit inspires you to bring live performance to your own event, our platform connects you directly with talented local artists across the country. Buon festival!