Kappa FuturFestival

History

Kappa FuturFestival started small, as a one-off event in one of Turin's city squares in 2009, timed to the centennial of Futurismo, the early-20th-century Italian art movement that embraced machines, speed, and technology over tradition. The pairing made a certain sense: a festival built around electronic music, itself largely machine-made, honoring a movement that had spent a century celebrating exactly that. Maurizio "Juni" Vitale, who also works in tourism promotion for the city of Turin, was behind the idea from the start, and stayed on as founder and lead organizer as it grew, eventually bringing on Gianluca Brignone as a partner and Gigi Mazzoleni as talent booking director.

The event took its current name and format in June 2012, when it became Italy's first daytime summer festival for electronic music, and took on sponsorship from Kappa, the Turin-founded sportswear brand. According to organizers, it was Kappa's own president who suggested the festival's future home: Parco Dora, a public park built on the site of Turin's former Fiat and Michelin steel and ironworks. The festival moved into the park's Vitali lot in 2013 and has stayed there since, using the rust-orange support towers left standing from the old steel mill, structures preserved when landscape architect Peter Latz and architect Giulio Desiderio converted the decommissioned industrial site into parkland that opened to the public in 2011, as the festival's most recognizable backdrop.

Kappa FuturFestival now runs three days, noon to midnight, with roughly 30,000 people on-site per day, a crew of around 1,000 workers, and, according to organizers, about fourteen months of planning behind each edition. The 2023 edition drew some 90,000 attendees from 105 countries across the weekend, with a bill that included Peggy Gou, Fatboy Slim, Swedish House Mafia, Carl Craig, and Derrick Carter, and organizers estimate the festival generates around 25 million euros for Turin's local economy each year. Home-turf bookings have become part of the identity too: Marco Carola has been one of the festival's regular Italian headliners over the years, alongside fellow countryman Joseph Capriati. Tickets for the festival now sell out earlier almost every year, a reputation that's made it one of the most anticipated dates on Europe's summer techno calendar despite, or maybe because of, staying rooted in a single city park.

FAQ

Why is it called Kappa FuturFestival?

It takes its name from Kappa, the Turin-founded sportswear brand that sponsored the event when it became a full daytime festival in 2012; organizers say it was Kappa's own president who suggested Parco Dora as the venue. The "Futur" nods to Futurismo, the Italian art movement whose 2009 centennial inspired the festival's original one-off edition.

What's the story behind the venue?

Parco Dora sits on the site of Turin's former Fiat and Michelin steel and ironworks, decommissioned in the 1990s and redeveloped into public parkland that opened in 2011. The festival's Vitali lot section still has the orange support towers from the old steel mill standing over the crowd.

Does Kappa FuturFestival sell out every year?

It's built a reputation as one of Europe's earliest festival sellouts each season. The 2023 edition alone drew an estimated 90,000 attendees from 105 countries across its three days.