Iconic singer Patti Smith has been released from an Italian hospital after falling sick on Dec. 12 with an undisclosed illness. The singer was on an eight-date Italian tour when she was taken sick, forcing the cancellation of a performance at Bologna's Teatro Duse as she was admitted to the city's Maggiore Hospital in Bologna for observation.
The Teatro Duse social media channel announced the cancellation. "With great regret, we inform the kind audience that the [Patti Smith] concert scheduled for today at 9 pm will not be able to go on stage due to a sudden illness that struck the artist," the venue wrote in an Instagram post.
"We are all sorry for the inconvenience caused by this news. Our best wishes for a speedy recovery go to the artist."
Smith had previously played on December 9 at Modena Duoma, a 12th-century Romanesque cathedral. The following day she posted a small portion of her performance on her Substack newsletter — an instrumental rendition of "Fairytale of New York" in memory of Shane MacGowan. Sometime after that, she fell ill with a yet-undisclosed complaint.
Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London, October 4, 2021.
However, as concerns were being raised about her illness — Smith has publicly acknowledged her long-term battle with a bronchial condition — she was discharged Wednesday evening and reportedly is in "good health," according to the Local Health Authority of Bologna. She has been advised to take a period of rest, according to the ED director Alessio Bertini.
She is next scheduled to play the Malibran theatre in Venice tomorrow night (Thursday, December 14). The fate of that concert is still undetermined. Her Instagram account, however, posted a short poem in honor of the birthday of late Television frontman Tom Verlaine, who was a fixture alongside Smith at New York's CBGB's in the 1970s. With a location of "Piazza Maggiore, Bologna," the post elicited a flood of well-wishes from fans in the comments.
Patti posing with the Emergency Department staff at Maggiore hospital in Bolgna, Italy, December 13, 2023.
The 76-year-old Smith, long considered the "godmother of punk," has been active since she first rose to prominence in the mid 1970s, when she released her critically acclaimed debut album, Horses, in 1975. Her best-known song, "Because the Night" written with Bruce Springsteen and hit No. 13 on the US charts in March of 1978.
Patti Smith Because The Night LIVE (Old Grey Whistle Test 1978)
She has released a number of books, including her best-selling memoir Just Kids, in which she details her early life in New York with her lover and friend Robert Mapplethorpe, and a follow-up, M Train. Her latest book, a photographic essay entitled A Book of Days was released in November 2022. Inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Smith has also been awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, as well as winning the National Book Award for Just Kids.
Smith is slated for three US performances before the end of the year. Her previously scheduled shows include a set at Chicago’s Salt Shed on Dec. 27 and two shows in Brooklyn, New York at the Brooklyn Steel.
