The Ferrara Buskers Festival, with its 800.000 spectators, is the biggest event in the world dedicated to the art of the street. It was founded in 1988 with the aim of enhancing the role of street musicians and to get to know a city rich in history and charm – objectives which have been fully accomplished.
Thanks to its success and its following imitators, the Festival has also helped in creating a real sector, which can now count on more than 200 enterprises distributed throughout the country.
For many spectators from all over Italy and, significantly, even from abroad, the Festival is an exciting tour around the world in search of familiar and exotic sounds; it’s a passionate-treasure-hunt to discover the most original instruments, the most inspired performances and the most fanciful costumes. It is, above all, an endless mobile jamboree, that moves in a thousand directions, able to reserve surprises at every corner: a river of joy, of hints and amazement, that invades the streets and squares of one of the most beautiful city centres of Italy.
The protagonists of the Festival are the buskers themselves; travelling artists who, in their daily activities, try to give some good humour and poetry to passers-by. The extent of their being appreciated lies in the ability to win the attention of a yet-to-be audience. To get them drop a token in the “hat”(in Euros, dollars or pounds). The Busker’s money-exchange office is always open.
Artists of the Ferrara Buskers Festival don’t receive any compensation, even though there are often among them some prominent professional street performers. The generosity of the audience, in getting involved and in giving, is therefore particularly appreciated.