Chris Ford is getting ready to say “arrivederci” to Iowa and “ciao” to Italy. 

The Iowa musician, who performs under the name Christopher the Conquered, will begin a month-long tour of Italy on Nov. 25. Ford will play 26 shows across the country and return to the United States shortly before Christmas. It will be the most extensive international tour for a Maximum Ames recording artist to date. 

Ford hopes his tour will be among the first in a growing movement by Iowa artists to take to their music to an international audience. 

“It’s been a good year for Iowa music getting out to the rest of the world,” Ford said. “Dylan Sires and Neighbors [Waterloo] have been in Japan recently and Max Jury [Des Moines] has been traveling all over Europe.”

The tour was organized by Rocketta Booking, an Italian agency that books tours for foreign artists who want to bring their music to Italy. Because Rocketta is based in Italy, it is easy for them to work with venues to book international acts. That task would have been somewhat difficult had Ford attempted it himself from Des Moines. 

Ford fostered a relationship with the firm through his work with Maximum Ames Records, of which he is a co-founder. 

“It’s sort of a long story of interconnected pieces coming together and people meeting each other,” Ford said. “They did the work of setting up the shows, and we’ll do the work of going and playing them.” 

Christopher the Conquered has taken on many forms since Ford started it as a solo project while studying electrical engineering at Iowa State in 2007. Ford adjusts his band as each show and project dictates. Over the years, he has performed on his own, with the sizable Black Gold Brass Band and with various trios and quartets. 

With each lineup change, Ford stays on as the core member. He is the Christopher in Christopher the Conquered, after all. 

“It kind of took me a while to realize that Christopher the Conquered is me,” Ford said. “There is no lineup besides me. I definitely have a steady group of musicians that play shows, but it varies depending on the show and the logistics involved.”

For this tour, Ford’s band will consist of saxophonist Kyle Gowen and vocalist Gemma Cohen. The trio will criss-cross Italy in a rental car piloted by Ford, who got his international driver’s permit specifically for this tour. 

While Ford is excited for his European excursion, he’s not quite ready to leave. On Thursday he will play a free show with a quartet at the Des Moines Social Club. The performance will be broadcast live on Iowa Public Radio’s “Live from Studio One.” 

And of course, there is the all important matter of packing his suitcase. 

“I’ll probably pack in the middle of the night before we leave,” Ford said.