Rome: BRANDUARDI Closes Year of Canticle of the Creatures,
Heralds 800th Anniversary of Transitus
On December 26, 2025, Angelo BRANDUARDI, a singer-songwriter who composes pieces about St. Francis, gave a concert in Rome to herald the upcoming 800th anniversary of the Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi and to conclude the 800th anniversary commemorating the saint’s composition of the Canticle of the Creatures.
The concert was attended by an audience of 2,700 admirers of the renowned medieval minstrel St. Francis. The event took place at the Santa Cecilia Concert Hall located in the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone Complex in Rome.
Backed by his four longtime instrumentalists, the artist performed eleven pieces from his album L’infinitamente Piccolo, which talks about the life of St. Francis. The first song was Canticle of Brother Sun, followed by ten of BRANDUARDI’s best-known pieces from the 1970s through the 1990s.
The idea of setting the life of St. Francis to music was first introduced in 1999, with the goal of spreading the message of St. Francis during the 2000 Jubilee Year. At that time, Friar Paolo FIASCONARO was the Coordinating Secretary for the Assembly of the four Franciscan Families of Italy, which was conducted in Sardinia. Friar Paolo invited the artist to present his plan to the sixty Ministers Provincial attending the Assembly. Mr. BRANDUARDI spoke to them and explained his deep artistic and spiritual bond with St. Francis.
Thus the album L’infinitamente Piccolo was born. Its eleven songs are based on texts selected by BRANDUARDI’s wife, Luisa ZAPPA. She took the texts from the Franciscan Sources and other books the friars had given her husband. Maestro BRANDUARDI involved four great musical forces of the time in his project, namely, the composers Ennio MORRICONE and Franco BATTIATO, and the renowned ensembles Madredeus and Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare. During the 2000 Jubilee Year, Mr. BRANDUARDI performed 150 concerts across Italy and Europe.
Twenty-five years later, on the occasion of the Franciscan 800th anniversaries, Friar Paolo FIASCONARO—on behalf of the Union of the Conferences of Ministers Provincial of the Franciscan Family of Italy—proposed that the songwriter take up the project again, even at the age of seventy-five. The friars enthusiastically supported the idea, giving rise to a new tour. The tour was further enriched when the friars of the Sacred Convent of Assisi suggested that Mr. BRANDUARDI collaborate with Aldo CAZZULLO, the author of the book “Francesco: Il Primo Italiano” [Francis: the First Italian]. Thus, Mr. CAZZULLO is now part of the new show, which will be a highlight during the 800th anniversary celebrations. The concert tour will begin in Pisa, Italy, on February 12, 2026, and will continue on to major theaters across Italy and Europe.
At the end of the concert performed this December, Mr. BRANDUARDI and Friar Paolo FIASCONARO spent some time together talking about their great Franciscan concert series twenty-five years ago. They recalled past successes, the original musical program based on the life of St. Francis, and discussed future projects inspired by the Saint of Assisi.
Roberto DAMIATA, Journalist
