De André sings De André: when the son becomes his father’s guardian

With the tour “De André sings De André – Best Of 2026”, Cristiano De André brings his father’s legacy to the stage with contemporary arrangements, presenting the best of the repertoire explored so far.

The new tour is structured in two parts, with concerts across Italy: the theatre version in April and May, while the summer version — from June to August — takes place in open-air arenas. In a single concert, Cristiano brings together the best of the four albums produced as part of the “De André sings De André” project and the related sold-out tours, bringing the world of De André back to life through songs etched into the collective memory and still extraordinarily relevant today.

The Legacy of a Poet of the Outcasts

To speak of Fabrizio De André is to leaf through the anthology of our collective conscience. Born in Genoa in 1940 and raised among the city’s narrow alleyways and the influence of French existentialists, Faber gave a voice to those who had never had one: prostitutes, outcasts, rebels, dreamers. From his beginnings in the 1960s with Valzer per un amore — the first song De André himself accepted as part of his own discography — through to the artistic testament of Anime salve(1996), by way of the multicultural masterpiece Crêuza de mä, De André elevated the song to a literary art form, always stepping away from the logic of the market to take refuge in the anarchy of the heart and the millimetric precision of the word.

The custodian of this immense heritage is today his son Cristiano, who approaches his father’s repertoire with the same intensity — in his multi-instrumentalism as in his vocal register — without ever slipping into imitation.

The Show

The E-Work Arena in Busto Arsizio, usually a temple of volleyball, was transformed for one evening into an exceptional concert venue. Thanks to its large capacity and acoustics carefully tuned for the occasion, the show allowed audiences to fully appreciate the instrumental complexity of the band.

On stage, Cristiano — on acoustic and classical guitar, bouzouki, piano and violin — was joined by his long-standing “travelling companions”: Osvaldo Di Dio on guitars, Davide Pezzin on bass, Luciano Luisi on keyboards and Ivano Zanotti on drums. Together they breathed new life into the classic songs, with rock and world music nuances that never compromise the sacred quality of the lyrics.

Cristiano’s personal stories served as a thread connecting the songs, offering an intimate glimpse into a father-son relationship that was at times painful. He spoke of Fabrizio’s wish to see him become a vet, of his time at the Paganini Conservatory in Genoa, and of his appearances as a boy at concerts with the New Trolls. He then recalled his debut alongside his father, stepping into the role that had been Mauro Pagani’s — a moment of great emotion for Cristiano. And finally, of Fabrizio’s bitterness in realising that his songs written against war and for the forgotten had not been enough to change the world — a bitterness that resonates with new force today, in an age when international tensions once again dominate the scene and the responsibilities of world leaders are plain for all to see.

In an era of disposable music, the concert stands as an oasis of cultural resistance: an opportunity to rediscover that, as Faber sang in Via del Campo, “from diamonds nothing grows, but from manure come flowers” — and to remember that, at heart, we are all still moving in an obstinate and contrary direction.

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Gaetano Battistini

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