Drizzled together as a fortunate result of nine friends realising their village deserved the best tides of the electronic and world music scenes, Transumare Fest has turned the coastline of Roseto degli Abruzzi into a global destination for the real heads to experience a different kind of connection through music and nature alike. After two breakout years hosting the likes of Venerus and Omar Souleyman, the festival has matured into a rare sonic gathering where the local and global concept simply dissolve.
The 2026 edition, subtitled Atto Terzo: La Metamorfosi, perfects the founders’ knack for cohesive friction. It is a year where the 808-heavy electro of LA legend Egyptian Lover and the uplifting Japanese house of Soichi Terada feel like natural siblings to the avant-pop of Tutti Fenomeni, or the high-octane energy of Deki Alem – all culminating in the punk-edged acid house of Paranoid London.
It’s a curation that understands the benefits of fusing the best of electronic, alternative rock and world music into the same ecosystem. Ahead of the August festivities, we sat down with Nicky, one of the minds behind the movement, to discuss the “metamorphosis” of the festival and how they make such a palette of sounds feel like home on the Adriatic shore.
Most festivals begin as an idea that feels slightly unrealistic at first. Do you remember the moment when Transumare stopped being a conversation between friends and started to feel like something that actually had to happen? What was the turning point that pushed you from imagining it to building it?
To be honest, that sense of ‘unreality’ still lingers in our minds and it’s what keeps the magic alive. We are a small, tight-knit community, yet from day one, the support we received was nothing short of unprecedented.
If we had to pinpoint a definitive turning point, it wasn’t a single meeting or a spreadsheet; it was the daily, visceral connection with our community. We realized they weren’t just an audience, but the burning flame at the heart of this project. Once the core concept was born, we were flooded with such a surge of collective energy that walking away simply wasn’t an option. That energy transformed the dream into a necessity: we weren’t just building a festival anymore, we were answering a call to gather.
Transumare has been described as a sort of sociocultural experiment — a way of rethinking how people share space through music. When you first imagined the festival, what dynamics were you hoping to change? In other words, what kind of community did you want to see emerge that didn’t already exist around you?
Our main goal was to dissolve the traditional hierarchy of a usual event. We wanted to create a space where the freedom of expression wasn’t reserved solely for the artists on stage, but was a right extended to every single person in the crowd. We envisioned a place where barriers, labels, and social limits would simply crumble within the act of sharing space.
At its core, Transumare is built on the radical coexistence of different generations, backgrounds, and identities. We wouldn’t be so bold as to say this community didn’t exist before us in our region; the seeds were already there. However, perhaps what was missing was a truly safe harbor, a sanctuary where people felt genuinely empowered to be their most authentic selves. We didn’t invent the community; we just gave it a home where it could finally breathe.
Beyond simply hosting concerts by the sea, how does the territory itself — the Adriatic coast, the mountains behind Roseto, the rhythm of a smaller town — help create the kind of community that emerges during the festival?
The secret lies in the ancestral hospitality of our land; it’s a place that whispers ‘home’ the moment you arrive. Over the last two years, we’ve watched hundreds of strangers transform into friends or partners, and we believe it’s because the landscape itself dictates the mood. There is a profound, almost electric power in being cradled between the Adriatic Sea and the Gran Sasso mountains.
This region is a hidden gem that deserves to be rediscovered. It offers a rare alchemy of culture, nature, and raw energy. We are surrounded by ancient landscapes, each with a thousand-year-old story, that naturally impose a slow pace and rhythmic breathing that forces you to disconnect from the digital noise and reconnect with the person standing next to you. Transumare isn’t just in Abruzzo; it is Abruzzo’s spirit taking a contemporary form.
You clearly have an uncanny ear for music — every edition features a mix of established acts and emerging talent that spans genres from electronic to rock to experimental and world music. How do you approach merging such different styles into a lineup that feels cohesive, and what’s your secret for making it all work together on the festival stages?
Curating this lineup is a risk we love to take, and we invite our audience to embrace that same sense of adventure. We want people to step into the Transumare world with an open heart, ready to face the unknown alongside us.
Our approach is intentionally raw and simple: we let the music and the lyrics lead the way. We try to ignore the hype and the rigid dictates of the market. For us, a lineup is cohesive not because the genres match, but because the soul of the performance does. By placing vastly different styles on the same stage, we aim to break down mental barriers and, quite literally, open people’s ears. It’s about creating a sonic journey where a synth-heavy electronic set and a raw rock performance can share the same ground, united by their authenticity. The secret? It’s trusting that if the music is honest, the connection will be real.
Our main goal was to dissolve the traditional hierarchy of a usual event.
Festivals often reflect the state of the music scene, but sometimes they also push back against it. When you look at the wider electronic and alternative scene, is there anything you see happening that you don’t agree with, or that you’re intentionally doing differently at Transumare?
One thing we stand firmly against is the obsession with social stratification and the endless VIP Spaces, Backstage Passes, and the elitism that often plagues modern festivals. We believe a festival must be lived collectively. It’s about the communion of people united by sound, without artificial divisions or the need for status driven exhibitionism. This isn’t just a preference; it’s the very foundation we’ve built Transumare upon.
As for creating something unique, we don’t feel the need to force a difference just for the sake of being different. Everything happens organically because we stay obsessively honest with our audience. We aren’t trying to replicate a trend or compete with a global model; we are simply cultivating the right chemistry for this specific place and this specific moment. When you prioritize honesty over marketing, the result is something that couldn’t happen anywhere else, simply because it’s rooted in the truth of who we are.
This year marks the third edition of Transumare. Looking back at the first two, how has your approach evolved? What excites you the most about this edition, and what challenges do you find yourself facing as the festival grows?
While we now carry two years of experience, exhaustion, and immense joy under our belts, our core approach remains untouched. What truly drives us hasn’t changed: it’s a visceral love for our land and our community. Experience hasn’t made us colder or more corporate; it has only deepened our roots.
What excites us most about this third chapter is the expansion of our international lineup and, above all, our new creative concept: ‘Metamorphosis.’ This year is about transformation and the fluid evolution of the festival itself and the people who inhabit it. We have a few surprises hidden up our sleeves that we can’t reveal just yet, but they are designed to push the boundaries of what Transumare can be. Growth brings challenges, of course, but as long as we stay true to the spirit of the “Metamorphosis”, we’re ready for whatever comes next.
To wrap it up, and wishing you many years of Transumare ahead, what’s a dream to accomplish for the festival? If you close your eyes, how does the ideal edition look like?
If we close our eyes, the ideal edition is about the preservation of a feeling. Our dream is that the raw, electric energy of these first two years continues to permeate everything we do for as long as possible.
We imagine a future where the spirit of Transumare becomes a permanent part of the landscape, long after the last note has faded. It’s about creating a timeless loop where every person who joins us, whether for the first or the tenth time, feels that same spark of belonging and liberation. If that energy remains untouched by time, then we’ve already accomplished our greatest dream.