Eric Clapton opens the Lucca Summer Festival of records: takings at 16 million

"Wonderful tonight!" Apparently this is what 'Mr Manolenta' said, quoting himself, on his first visit to the Historic Walls of Lucca. Now he is holed up in Versilia, away from prying eyes, before waking up the blue Stratocaster to the delight of fans. The 2024 edition of the Lucca Summer Festival opens on Sunday 2 June with a concert by Eric Clapton. For 26 years, D'Alessandro & Galli's kermesse has been lining up the best of international music, without disdaining the occasional "foray" into our own repertoire. Numbers in hand, it will not be just any edition: the 19 appointments that will take place in June and July between Piazza Napoleone and the Mura Storiche, from "Mr. Slowhand" to Gazzelle, passing through Rod Stewart, Lenny Kravitz and Toto, is already at 200,000 tickets sold, an increase of 53% on the previous year, which also saw the likes of Kiss and Blur parading in the Tuscan town, spread over 16 dates.

Most of this year's concerts are already sold out: in addition to Clapton's, Ed Sheeran (80,000 people from all over Italy with 7 per cent of tickets sold abroad), Tedua, the Smashing Pumpkins, Rod Stewart, Calcutta, Lenny Kravitz and Duran Duran's two dates have already maximised takings, while old lion John Fogerty, Toto and Marcus Miller's co-host night, Geolier and Gazzelle are very close to the target. "Of course, the playbill has expanded," comments patron Mimmo D'Alessandro, "but what proved to be rewarding above all was the variety of the offer: alongside the big international names, which have been the hallmark of the Lucca Summer Festival since 1998, for some years now we have been flanking Italian artists with great appeal for young audiences. The performance of names Tedua, for example, is emblematic'.

The history of the Lucca Summer Festival, which started 26 years ago with Bob Dylan, George Benson and Tito Puente, has seen performances from the Rolling Stones to Elton John (six times) over the last five decades. Crossing genres is a pleasant habit: "This year," emphasises D'Alessandro, "we will also have great classical music: we will celebrate the centenary of the death of the legendary Lucchese composer Giacomo Puccini in an evening that will be broadcast worldwide with Maestro Riccardo Muti conducting the 'Cherubini' Orchestra.

If the Lucca Summer Festival is history, the future of D'Alessandro & Galli is called La Prima Estate that on the weekends of 14-16 June and 21-23 June will bring to Parco Bussola Domani in Lido di Camaiore from Paolo Nutini to Fontaines D.C. for its third edition. "An appointment we have strongly bet on," concludes D'Alessandro, "aware of the fact that it corresponds to the 'festival-holiday' format that is increasingly at the centre of international public demand. Versilia's appeal does its own.