Mirabilia international circus & performing arts festival 2026 20th edition
From September 2 to 6, 2026, Cuneo will host Mirabilia THE FESTIVAL, five days of intense programming to celebrate the milestone of this twentieth edition, dedicated to live performance. The city, as in previous editions, will be transformed into a vast, sprawling stage, with courtyards, gardens, squares, museums, and unusual open-air spaces welcoming artists, performances, and audiences. This edition renews and strengthens the dialogue with the local community, promoting community engagement and experimentation with new languages of the performing arts.
All the information and the complete program are available at www.festivalmirabilia.it
The program kicks off in Cuneo on September 2, the Festival's opening day. The Sala San Giovanni hosts the national premiere of Multiperspectivas by Paula Quintas , a performance installation that combines dance, tightrope walking, circus, video, and theatrical improvisation in a journey into the unconscious, awarded best circus show by Red Escena. Piazza Virginio hosts the regional premiere of Meraviglia by Ondadurto Teatro, in collaboration with theAIT International Theatre Academy of Rome. This work invites audiences to rediscover wonder and imagination through physical theater, dance, nouveau cirque, and large-scale stage machinery, transforming the urban space into a poetic and visionary landscape.
On September 3rd , the program will feature previews, world, national, and regional premieres spread across various venues around the city, exploring a variety of performance languages.
The Teatro Toselli will preview LIF by Zappalà Danza / Claudio Scalia, a choreographic reflection inspired by Ragnarök from Norse mythology that investigates destruction, transformation and rebirth through an intense physical language.
Many shows are already scheduled for Mirabilia Thursday, including the national premiere of Mother Woman Artist by MDS Marianna De Santis, an autobiographical work that combines contemporary circus, stand-up, and clowning to reflect on the role of the artist and gender dynamics, between irony and the political dimension.
The national premiere of Toca Toc by the Pakipaya company debuts at the Foro Boario , a show that combines aerial circus, theatre and comedy to tell the story of the encounter between two people and the dynamics of a couple's relationship with lightness and depth.
The packed program also includes the regional premiere of Screenvestigation Albert Figurt's at Palazzo Samone, a participatory performance that transforms the audience's screens and digital traces into scenic material, exploring the invisible landscape of our online habits.
On September 4th , the festival offers a rich program of performances, combining regional premieres and productions with strong visual and narrative impact. Highlights include the premiere of FigliaSanta by Abbondanza/Bertoni at the Cour du Festival and the European premiere of Allqu Yana by the Chilean company La Huella Teatro at the Tettoia Virginio. Inspired by an Andean legend from the Atacama Desert, the show recounts the soul's journey after death, accompanied by a black dog toward the afterlife. The result of field research in the village of Ollagüe, it intertwines folk traditions, anthropology, and performing languages through masks, puppets, live music, dance, and theater, creating a poetic tale that highlights the cultural heritage of the Andean communities of northern Chile. The performance is preceded by a musical parade.
The program continues with two regional premieres . At the Foro Boario, Sienta la Cabeza by the Spanish company of the same name will be performed , a participatory performance that transforms the public space into an original artistic hairstyling salon, engaging the audience in a collective experience of music, irony, and creativity.
In the courtyard of the CRC Foundation, the TWAIN company presents Altre Direzioni (Other Directions), a dance performance that traces twenty years of artistic research through an intense and poetic choreographic language. Bodies, relationships, and transformations intertwine in an emotional journey that invites the spectator to open themselves to discovery and imagination.
“Tutti in Valigia” by Luigi Ciotta, “Fidati di me” by Mistral, Il Palombaro by Alessandro Vallin, “Lusin” by Compagnia Hanami and many other contemporary urban circus and street theatre including, poetic and itinerant, the talented Campanian artists of La Baracca dei Buffoni with the Fleur-parade poetic sensorial.
Amalia Franco's installation "Coro" in the Sala San Giovanni and the video dance "La Danza in 1 minuto" at Palazzo Samone, the Festival's headquarters.
On September 5th, dance takes center stage with a program packed with world, national, and regional premieres that span a variety of disciplines, from contemporary dance to physical theater to contemporary circus.
World dance premieres include Radura by Balletto Teatro di Torino at the Basse di Stura and Play Room II by EgriBiancoDanza in the Cortile CRC, which explores play as a universal language of connection and discovery in an ever-changing stage space. Regional premieres also include: Replica of Abbondanza/Bertoni at the Teatro Toselli and Cuentas Corrientes by Jessica & Boris in Largo Audifreddi, a dance duet that ironically addresses the dynamics of contemporary work.
Nel Segno del Leone, a show that debuted in 2025 at Mirabilia, this year finds a new site-specific setting among the nature of the Basse di Stura (Into the Woods project).
At Tettoia Virginio, the world premiere of an action involving the protagonist of Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote of La Mancha is taking place : and AI by UTPlay – UniTO – BlackBox StudiumLab, a performative installation that explores the relationship between literary imagination and artificial intelligence… the spectator enters the blackbox and finds himself chatting with Don Quixote of La Mancha himself!
Piazza Galimberti hosts the national premiere of Runners by the Hippana Maleta company, a contemporary circus show that combines juggling, live music, and physical comedy in a reflection on movement and the human condition.
Also in Piazza Galimberti is the preview of Wild by the Motionhouse company , a dance and acrobatic performance that explores the relationship between humans and nature in a powerful visual and physical dimension.
At the Diocesan Museum, the intense work of the Faber Teater Company with Stabat Mater.
In Largo Audiffredi Jessica & Boris with Quentas Corrientas, contemporary dance at the highest levels.
On the last day of the Cuneo stage, September 6, Mirabilia offers at the Teatro Toselli the preview/work in progress of Io Bestia by Incipit Company, a show that investigates the relationship between animal instinct and human nature through dance, circus and physical theatre.
The Sala San Giovanni will host the regional premiere of Coro Amalia Franco's a performance installation that explores the relationship between the individual and the collective through dance, figures, and words, giving shape to a community in constant flux between presence and absence. This poetic work blurs the lines between animate and inanimate, evoking belonging and shared memory.
The Cour du Festival will host the world premiere of Antigone by Natiscalzi DT / T. Monza, a contemporary reinterpretation of the Sophoclean myth that investigates the conflict between individual conscience and power through dance, gesture and word.
The parade of artists from Tan Tan Teatro, a theatre , begins in Via Roma and arrives in Piazza Virginio to present Witold Gombrowicz's The Marriage.
The Pillow Fight, in collaboration with SAICuneo, will brighten Via Silvio Pellico. Also featuring L'Artista by Chilean band Los Nadies Circo, Il Palombaro, Fleur Parata poetico sentimentale, Hippana Maleta, Sienta la Cabeza, Wild by Motion House, PakiPaya, and many other performances for the final Sunday of Mirabilia The Festival
Alongside the core of premieres and previews, the program develops into a broad international offering involving 61 companies from around the world (Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Denmark), with 170 performances spread across 9 cities and 50 locations overall. This widespread project reflects the festival's polycentric nature, simultaneously highlighting its ability to centralize this major event in Cuneo and its ability to connect artistic production and local areas.
This context includes a selection of special events representing some of the most significant and spectacular experiences of the program, including site-specific events, international creations, and immersive works that enhance the dialogue between performing arts and landscape.
INFO AND TICKETS: The Festival will combine ticketed shows with many free events for the public.
Tickets can be purchased at the on-site ticket offices, at www.festivalmirabilia.it and at https://www.ticket.it
APP: www.standapp.cloud
info@festivalmirabilia.it
– Facebook: Mirabilia Festival Europeo
– Instagram: @mirabiliafestival
– TikTok: @mirabilia_festival
– Youtube: Mirabilia Festival – X: @MirabiliaFest
