Crossover 80

A festival dedicated to the Florentine 80s

Crossover 80 is one of the most anticipated additions to the 2026 Estate Fiorentina: a cultural festival celebrating the atmosphere and creativity of the Florentine New Wave of the eighties, an unrepeatable season that the Tuscan capital lived as a true "Rock Renaissance" capable of influencing Europe. Curated and organized by Stazione Utopia, the event runs from July 2 to September 18, 2026, in the city of Florence, intertwining a major immersive exhibition with a calendar of events spread across the city's iconic locations.

The "Florence Calling" exhibition at the MAD

The heart of the festival is the immersive exhibition "Florence Calling", which opens on July 2, 2026, at the MAD - Murate Art District, the contemporary art center of the City of Florence housed in the former Murate prison. The exhibition reconstructs the underground cultural climate of 1980s Florence, made of independent radio, experimental theater, graphic design, photography, and sounds that defined an entire generation.

The voices of the protagonists

The program gives voice to the protagonists of that creative season, with a focus on historic local entities:

• Controradio, one of the iconic pirate radio stations of the Florentine scene;
• Studio Krypton, the theatrical avant-garde founded by Giancarlo Cauteruccio;
• icons of the so-called "Rock Renaissance" such as Litfiba and Piero Pelù, recounted through screenings and dedicated presentations.

Events across the city

In addition to the exhibition at the MAD, Crossover 80 enlivens various spaces in the city with screenings, meetings, and musical moments. Involved venues include the Caffè Letterario Le Murate, the Arena di Piazza Pitti, Contempo Records, and the Crisco Club, in a journey that traverses the sonic and visual memory of Florence.

Part of the Estate Fiorentina

Crossover 80 is part of the Estate Fiorentina 2026, the major summer program promoted by the City of Florence that offers over 1,200 events of music, theater, cinema, and culture from June to September. The festival represents one of the major thematic events of the edition, designed to rediscover a fundamental piece of the Tuscan capital's cultural identity and to reconnect the public, including younger generations, with the scene that made Florence a capital of Italian alternative music.