What it is and why it's worth the trip
Anyone who has been to a contemporary circus show knows the moment of realisation: this is nothing like what you thought the circus was. No big top, no ring, no trained animals. What you find is something radically different — companies using the body as an artistic research tool, building narratives through acrobatics, putting extreme physicality in dialogue with poetry, theatre with dance.
Circumnavigando brings this world to Genoa every autumn. Italian and international companies perform in theatres and unconventional spaces, with site-specific performances in the alleys and piazzas of the historic centre. The festival is one of Italy's reference points for anyone who follows the nouveau cirque scene — that tradition born in France and spread worldwide that transformed acrobatic performance into a fully-fledged art form.
Genoa is a natural home for this kind of event. The city has an ancient relationship with street arts and performance in unusual spaces: its historic centre, with narrow caruggi, UNESCO palaces and hidden courtyards, is a natural stage that no purpose-built theatre could replicate. When a contemporary circus company takes over one of these spaces, the density and immediacy of the experience is hard to find anywhere else.
For those staying in Rapallo, Circumnavigando represents one of those events that make autumn in the Tigullio particularly interesting. The peak season fades, mass tourism retreats, and what remains is a more authentic Liguria — with quality cultural events for a curious, attentive audience rather than indifferent crowds.
What to expect in practice
A contemporary circus festival is experienced very differently from a music or literary festival. Every show has its own strong identity — it can be intimate and silent, or physically intense and visually overwhelming. Variety is the defining characteristic: there is no single "type" of contemporary circus, but an ecosystem of languages that Circumnavigando presents each year in all its multiplicity. Bring curiosity and no fixed expectations — that is the ideal mindset to enjoy it fully.
