Patti Smith has been briefly hospitalised following an illness while on tour in Italy.
The 76-year-old singer had been due to perform in Bologna but she cancelled the concert after suffering what the city’s Teatro Duse venue described as a “sudden illness”.
She underwent checks at a hospital in the city. A statement from health authorities in Bologna said Smith had been discharged and was in good health, adding that they looked forward to seeing her perform again “after an appropriate period of rest”.
Smith has also cancelled a concert in Venice and a book signing in Milan, due to happen later this week. Earlier this month she played four concerts across the country.
Smith has been documenting her Italian tour on Instagram with typical poetic flair. Captioning a picture of Matera, she wrote: “My view a feel of the flow of history of time imprinted on steps one yearns to climb stone by stone barefoot unknown.” Nocturnal photographs of Siena are captioned: “The mystery of history, present tense energy. Impossible embraceable Siena at night.”
She has also called for a ceasefire of the war in Gaza. After the US vetoed a ceasefire in a UN security council motion, she described it as a “vote against humanity” alongside a picture of Gaza in ruins.
Her most recent book, the diaristic photo journal A Book of Days, was published in 2022. Smith hasn’t released a solo album since 2012’s Banga, but as well as publishing other book projects she has been collaborating with experimental group Soundwalk Collective in recent years, releasing three albums with them: The Peyote Dance and Mummer Love (both 2019), and Peradam (2020).
