The highlight of the musical summer is the BAM Summer Festival, which on Sunday 21 June from 10.00 am to 10.30 pm – coinciding with the summer solstice and International Music Day – transforms the park into a huge brass band festival dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Italian Republic. This event marks the conclusion of BAMFAIR PLAY 25/26, the programme conceived by BAM as part of the Fondazione Milano Cortina Cultural Olympics.

For the occasion, over 500 musicians from the 12 provinces of Lombardy will create a single, great collective wave of sound alongside flag-wavers, youth bands, street bands and marching bands, bringing the park to life with a succession of concerts, parades and travelling performances. The festival thus presents a veritable musical map of the region, highlighting its traditions, cultural identities and community heritage.

A day of celebration that honours the social value of music as a form of participation and shared memory, bringing the role of bands back to the fore – one of the most widespread forms of musical and cultural education in the region, still capable today of fostering participation and a sense of belonging. The pieces performed will retrace symbolic moments in Italian history, taking the audience on a musical journey through civic memory, collective identity and a sense of belonging, and transforming the park into a true space for active democracy and civic participation.

The festival also marks the conclusion of an educational programme run from February to June with a number of primary and secondary schools in the city, organised in collaboration with Internazionale Kids to encourage reflection on the values of democracy, citizenship and active participation. Throughout the day, Internazionale Kids will be present in the park with a dedicated space for exhibiting the work and explaining the creative process behind the production of a fanzine, offering ideas and suggestions to anyone wishing to explore this form of creative expression.

The initiative is promoted in collaboration with TP Tavolo Permanente delle Federazioni Bandistiche Italiane, ANBIMA Lombardia, ABBM Associazione Bergamasca Bande Musicali, ABMB Associazione Bande Musicali Bresciane, CBM Coordinamento Bande Musicali di Cremona e Mantova, FEBACO Federazione Bande Comasche, ALBA Associazione Lombarda Bande Amatoriali, IMSB Italian Marching Show Ban.