New Electronic Music Festival Launching In Ancient Roman Temple Site
An Italian coastal airport is betting big that the future of electronic music festivals lies in the distant past.
Electronic music festivals keep pushing for more ambitious venues, but Italy's newest entry might take the crown: a functioning airport once home to an ancient Roman temple. The brand-new Adriatic Sound Festival is debuting in June 2025 at Fano Airport, formerly known as Fanum Fortunae.
The two-day festival is being "conceived as a temporary city," according to a press release shared with EDM.com. Its organizers plan to merge Roman history with cutting-edge stage design from the renowned architecture firm STUFISH.
In the past year alone, the company has designed groundbreaking productions for the Rolling Stones' "Hackney Diamonds" tour, Adele's acclaimed residencies in Las Vegas and Munich, and Sabrina Carpenter’s "Short & Sweet" tour. Their latest triumph is Adriatic Sound, where they're debuting an innovative stage.
The Temple Stage concept features a rotating 360° central platform where DJs perform inside a massive drum structure, surrounded by four grandstands arranged in a coliseum-style layout. A luminous halo structure above will react with the music to create a multi-sensory experience.
STUFISH Entertainment Architects
Elsewhere at the festival will be the Infinity Stage, which takes cues from Fano's 2,000-year-old Arch of Augustus, a historic gateway built around 27 BC. The stage, STUFISH says, draws inspiration "from fundamental architectural forms, reinterpreted through a bold, futuristic lens."
The inaugural Adriatic Sound lineup includes pioneering producers Sven Väth and Armand Van Helden, with more to be announced in the weeks ahead.
Adriatic Sound Festival is scheduled for June 13-14, 2025. You can find out more information here.
