Sayf

Trumpet first, rap second

Adam Sayf Viacava was born in Genoa on 23 March 1999, to an Italian father, Gaetano, and a Tunisian mother, Samia Ghariani. They separated when he was nine, and his childhood was split across Genoa, Rapallo and Santa Margherita Ligure — the stretch of Ligurian coast that still turns up in almost everything he writes. He lives in Rapallo now and follows Genoa CFC.

The detail that explains most of his music is that he learned the trumpet at middle school and only found hip-hop at around fourteen. The instrument never went away; it is still on stage with him. His father's listening — Fabrizio De André, PFM, Arab and Indian records — arrived before any rap did, and he has since pointed back at Gino Paoli, Adriano Celentano, Franco Califano and Vinicio Capossela as reference points rather than the American canon his peers cite.

At eighteen he moved to Sesto San Giovanni, on Milan's industrial edge, to force a breakthrough. It did not come, and he went back to Liguria. He has also worked as a jobbing songwriter for Sugar Music, which is a less glamorous but more useful biographical fact than most of what gets printed about him.

Mixtapes, a collective, and the year it turned

The early output was self-released and local. He co-founded the Luvre Muzik collective with Zero Vicious and others, put out the mixtape "Sono triste" on 15 April 2019 — a record he has since disowned — and followed it with "Everyday Struggle" on 1 July 2020, into the middle of the pandemic.

The shift came in 2024, when he set up Genovarabe with Helmi Sa7bi, Sossy, Marvin and Vincè, a Genoese-Arab crew that gave his writing a context rather than just a postcode. "Chanelina Soubrette", made with Disme and Ele A, was the first thing of his to travel beyond Liguria. The EP "Se Dio vuole" followed on 24 January 2025, by which point he had signed through ADA and Warner.

2025 was the year the infrastructure caught up. His first proper headline show was at Santeria Toscana 31 in Milan in April 2025. "Figli dei palazzi", with Néza, reached number 53; "Sto bene al mare", cut with Marco Mengoni and Rkomi in June 2025, reached number 25 and went gold. He co-wrote "Erica" for Bresh's album "Mediterraneo". Spotify put him on Radar Italia 2025 and Vevo named him a DSCVR Artist to Watch for 2026. He also launched his own festival, Santissima Fest, in Genoa that summer, and sold out all three nights of it.

Sanremo, and a second place that did more than a win

His name was announced for the 76th Festival di Sanremo on 30 November 2025. He took "Tu mi piaci tanto" to the Ariston — an orchestral arrangement over a lyric that works by accumulating fragments of present-day Italy rather than arguing a case. He has credited Paolo Sorrentino for that method: lay out the images, let the listener decide what they add up to. On cover night he reworked Ray Charles's "Hit the Road Jack" with Alex Britti and Mario Biondi.

He finished second in the final on 28 February 2026. The song peaked at number two, was certified platinum, topped the EarOne airplay chart and has passed thirty million Spotify streams — a better commercial outcome than several recent winners managed. Asked before the festival what he wanted an audience to take from it, he said he hoped they came away thinking there was a good guy up there, which is roughly the register he operates in: low-stakes delivery, higher-stakes writing underneath. He has also been blunt that the appeal of his position is the absence of constraints on what he does next.

Santissimo, and the argument about it

The debut album proper, "Santissimo", arrived on 7 May 2026 through La Santa, Atlantic Records Italy and Warner Music Italy. Eighteen tracks, produced in-house by Dibla and Jiz with contributions from Willy, Laboo, Moli and Chryverde, and a guest list — Geolier, Kid Yugi, Nerissima Serpe, Bresh, Tedua, Artie 5ive, Guè — that reads like a map of who currently matters in Italian rap. It debuted at number one on the FIMI/NIQ chart in both the overall and physical rankings, and has been certified gold. "Parlar d'amore" was worked to radio from 24 July 2026.

Critics have not been unanimous. OndaRock gave it six out of ten and called it muddled, arguing that it swings between genuine pop-cantautore instincts and off-the-peg Italian rap, with predictable reggaeton rhythms and worn-out imagery dragging on it. The same review rated "Boutique", built on flamenco guitar, as the record's best moment, and praised the Spanish-inflected "Princesa" — in other words, it is strongest where the trap conventions are weakest. The more sympathetic Italian reads describe a record made of played instruments with a band's breathing room in it, which is also the most relevant thing about it for anyone buying a ticket.

Autumn 2026: where he actually is

The Santissima Fest he founded returned on 18 July 2026 at the Arena del Mare in Genoa's Porto Antico, produced by Butterfly Effect, with Jannet, Genovarabe, G. Mineiro, Vaz Tè and a Night Skinny DJ set beneath his own headline performance. It sold out.

Two things have landed since. Biagio Antonacci's "Spiritualé", featuring Sayf, went to radio on 25 September 2026 as track five on Antonacci's album "MUSTANG" — a crossover into mainstream Italian songwriting that a rapper of his age does not normally get offered. And on 7 October 2026 a documentary called "Il cielo in una stanza" went up on his own YouTube channel: directed by Yuri Dellacasa and written by Claudio Cabona, filmed inside the prison at Chiavari, with Sayf listening to inmates' raps and talking to them about freedom. It closes with him playing Gino Paoli's title song on trumpet.

On the ticketing side there are six Sayf dates on sale, and only two of them have seats left.

The tour as it stands

The summer leg ran through the festival circuit: Bari's Sottosopra on 31 July, the Arena Alpe Adria at Lignano Sabbiadoro on 6 August, Red Valley in Olbia on 15 August, Marea at Montesilvano on 28 August, the Beat Festival in Empoli on 4 September and Trento Live Fest on 5 September. The Red Valley set, on Ferragosto night in front of a mostly young crowd of thousands — on a bill that also carried Sfera Ebbasta, Annalisa and Ernia — was reported locally as the moment he picked up the trumpet and turned the Olbia Arena into something closer to a jazz room than a rap stage.

The autumn club run is the first time the album gets a full indoor production. It opens at the Teatro della Concordia in Venaria Reale, outside Turin, on 14 October 2026, a 9pm start, tickets from €34.50 before fees, and sold out. Then the Gran Teatro Geox in Padua on 17 October, two nights at Alcatraz in Milan on 21 and 22 October, and the Atlantico in Rome on 27 October. Padua is the only one of the five still available. A separate Milan date at the Teatro Principe on 27 November, billed as Allo Sbagliato, has also gone on sale.