The Vieusseux Brings Music to Santa Croce: Three Evenings with Vasco Brondi, Murubutu, and Daniela Pes
In September, Florence relaunches its cultural scene with an event that brings together two sister arts: music and literature. From September 2 to 4, 2026, the Gabinetto Vieusseux presents the third edition of The Music of the Poets. The Poets of Music in the spaces of the Cenacolo di Santa Croce.
Three evenings, all starting at 6:30 p.m., designed to bring together the words of three major 20th-century authors with the artistic sensibilities of three leading figures in contemporary Italian music: Daniela Pes, Murubutu, and Vasco Brondi.
This is a unique series, particularly because of how it came about. The artists did not simply choose an author and build a concert around their work: they visited the “Alessandro Bonsanti” Contemporary Archive at the Vieusseux, examined the writers’ manuscripts, and crafted their readings based on that research. The result will be a brief journey through poetry, song, rap, electronic music, and memory, featuring three events that are very different from one another.
Daniela Pes Meets Giuseppe Dessí
The series kicks off Wednesday, September 2 with Daniela Pes and Giuseppe Dessí – Il canto delle ombre.
A singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist from Gallura, Pes has developed a musical language that defies easy categorization. Her music blends electronic elements, traditional Sardinian sounds, and jazz influences into a personal and distinctive balance.
Her collaboration with Giuseppe Dessí, a Sardinian writer whose papers are preserved at the Vieusseux Library, stems precisely from a shared affinity for his way of portraying time and the human landscape.
Pes speaks of a form of writing rooted in listening, silences, and profound observations of the world. This is the source of the title Il canto delle ombre: the shadow as presence, memory, mystery, and absence. It will be fascinating to see how Daniela Pes’s voice and sonic exploration will engage in dialogue with Dessí’s prose, especially in a setting like the Cenacolo di Santa Croce, where art and memory are already integral to the experience. Nicola Turi will introduce the evening.
Murubutu and Cristina Campo: Between Words and Waiting
Thursday, September 3, the program shifts gears with Murubutu—the stage name of Alessio Mariani, a rapper and professor of philosophy and history.
For years, Murubutu has been exploring the relationship between rap, literature, and storytelling, transforming characters, historical events, and literary themes into musical narratives. This exploration finds a surprising partner in Cristina Campo. Her reading is titled Cristina Campo – Words and Waiting.
Campo, a writer, poet, and translator, had an almost artisanal relationship with words: she chose them carefully, focusing on precision as well as rhythm, form, and musicality. It is precisely this aspect that drew Murubutu to her work. In a present dominated by speed and instant gratification, the careful craftsmanship of words can become a countercultural gesture. To pause, to choose, to wait: concepts that seem far removed from the daily frenzy, yet find new life in artistic language. The encounter between rap and poetry thus promises to be one of the most intriguing moments of the festival. Introduced by Raffaele Palumbo.
Vasco Brondi Presents Montale at Santa Croce
The third evening, Friday, September 4, will feature Vasco Brondi, who will present Montale: A Sign of Recognition for the Afterlife.
Here, the connection to Florence becomes particularly strong. Eugenio Montale, in addition to being one of the greatest Italian poets of the twentieth century and a 1975 Nobel Laureate in Literature, was in fact director of the Gabinetto Vieusseux from 1929 to 1938. His return, many decades later, through the voice of a contemporary singer-songwriter and writer like Brondi, adds another layer to the project.
Brondi describes Montale as an author capable of drawing something universal from the smallest details. An object, a landscape, or an everyday scene can become the starting point for reflecting on time, existence, and destiny. It is a characteristic that makes his poetry still surprisingly close to the sensibility of singer-songwriter music: starting from the everyday to seek something that is not everyday. Simona Baldanzi will introduce the event.
The Vieusseux Opens Its Archives to Music
The Music of Poets. The Poets of Music was launched in 2024 with a specific goal: to highlight the heritage of the Vieusseux Scientific and Literary Cabinet and, in particular, the collections of the “Alessandro Bonsanti” Contemporary Archive.
The Archive, established in 1975 by then-director Alessandro Bonsanti, preserves approximately two hundred archival collections containing manuscripts, letters, typescripts, objects, and personal libraries belonging to Italian writers, poets, and intellectuals.
This heritage, which normally resides within the archive’s halls and in the research of scholars, becomes, through this series, the raw material for a new artistic creation.
The project, in fact, begins with the documents and culminates in music. This journey also allows an audience less familiar with 20th-century literature to engage with figures such as Montale, Campo, and Dessí through contemporary means. The title of the series says it all: the music of the poets, but also the poets of music.
Three evenings to mark on your Florentine calendar
The collaboration with Opera di Santa Croce brings the festival this year to one of Florence’s most evocative venues. The Cenacolo thus becomes a space where historical heritage meets contemporary exploration, where the city’s memory converges with the voices of today’s Italian music.
Following previous editions, which featured artists such as Amara, Francesco Bianconi, Cristina Donà, Cristiano Godano, Gianni Maroccolo, Andrea Chimenti, and Massimo Zamboni, the Vieusseux once again presents a program that spans genres and generations.
The Program
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 – 6:30 p.m.
Daniela Pes
Giuseppe Dessí – The Song of the Shadows
Introduction by Nicola Turi
Thursday, September 3, 2026 – 6:30 p.m.
Murubutu
Cristina Campo – Words and Waiting
Introduction by Raffaele Palumbo
Friday, September 4, 2026 – 6:30 p.m.
Vasco Brondi
Montale: A Sign of Recognition for the Afterlife
Introduced by Simona Baldanzi
Cenacolo di Santa Croce, Florence
Free admission; reservations required
The series is part of theEstate Fiorentina 2026, in partnership with the Opera di Santa Croce and with Unicoop Firenze as media partner. For three evenings, then, the Vieusseux brings music and literature to Santa Croce, opening its heritage to new interpretations and new sounds. An event for poetry lovers, of course, but also for those who wish to rediscover Florence through one of its most precious talents: the ability to continually connect the past and the present.
Because words, when paired with the right music, have a way of coming back to life.
