Italy is land of Art and Culture. Opera is born in Italy in the XVI – XVII century . Opera is an art form in which drama, singing and music are combined in striking performances. From Italy it soon spread through the rest of Europe and now it is appreciated by fans from all over the world.

Some of the world famous Italian Opera writers are Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Puccini and Verdi.

During the summer period, the Opera performances move from the most prestigious Italian theaters to the gorgeous open air theatres. From  these beautiful Arenas located in equally beautiful landscapes, Italian summer evenings are brightened by great music!

In this section we will present the major Opera Festivals that will take place in Italy during the summer months.

55° PUCCINI FESTIVAL - Torre del Lago (Lucca) – TUSCANY , July 10th to August 22nd

Torre del Lago hosts since 55 years one of the most important opera festivals in Italy and Europe: the Puccini Opera Festival, founded  in 1930 by Giacomo Puccini itself that lived and worked in this enchanting village in the Tuscany Riviera, near Lucca and Pisa.

Bohème, Turandot and  Manon Lescaut  will be performed this year, together with a great new production of Tosca.

The nice village of Torre del Lago lies in Tuscany is a few kilometers away from one of the most exclusive beaches in Italy: Versilia. Near the beautiful art city of Lucca and close to the world known Pisa.

The official website of the Puccini Festival

ROSSINI OPERA FESTIVAL - Pesaro, from 9th  to  20th August

This year will be the 30th edition of the Festival dedicated by the town of Pesaro to the master Gioacchino Rossini.

Apart from the classic masterpieces of the Rossinian canon, which have here been restored to their authentic form  the Festival can also boast a long list of unknown titles, revived in important productions, which critics and audiences alike have greeted in each case as authentic cultural events

The 2009 programme includes the Opera Zelmira, La scala di Seta, Le Compte Ory and many concerts.

The official website of the Rossini Opera Festival

RAVELLO FESTIVAL - Ravello  - AMALFI COAST,  June 26th – September 26th

The Ravello Festival is one of the oldest festivals in Italy.

During the whole months music, dance a and various art performance make this gorgeous village in the Amalfi Coast even more attractive to Italian and foreignThe main festival location is an attraction by itself: a gorgeous open air theatre built on the cliff in the breathtaking Amalfi Coast.

The offcial website of the Ravello Festival

Umbria Jazz Festival - Perugia - July 10th to 19th 2009

Since 1973 the Italian summer in Umbria goes with the rhythm of Umbria Jazz. This relatively small region, at the heart of Italy, is hosting one of the greatest Jazz events in Italy. 10 days of concerts; 9 different stages (including the ones at the main Arena, the theatres, squares and restaurants); more than 220 great music events, most of which free. During  these days saxophones, trumpets, guitars spread their sounds along the streets of Perugia.

The eclectic line of Umbria Jazz Festival wants to tell the spectators at what extent music can be different and that all types of  good music deserve attention.  Following this motto, Umbria Jazz stages host the main Jazz players (Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, BB King … to mention a few of them), but also pop music groups famous all over the world, such as the REM that played last year or the Simply Red in this year program. James Taylor, Tuck & Patti, Solomon Burke are just an example of the great artists that will make 2009’s edition as success full as the 36 previous ones.

The concerts will take place on various striking open air locations in the historical centre of the town of Perugia: the main square, with the gorgeous medieval fountain and Cathedral as scenario, the Carducci Gardens or the Arena Santa Giuliana, just in front of the beautiful Church of Santa Giuliana. But also in theatres, churches, restaurants and cafes.

During these days music passionate and tourists enjoy together the magic atmosphere and the beauty of Perugia.

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53rd International Art Exhibition - Venice - Giardini and Arsenale - from June 7th to November 22nd, 2009

Sunday June 7th,  the 53rd International Art Exhibition opens to the public. This exceptional event is located in the two main exposition areas in the Giardini and the Arsenale  as well as in various other locations around the city.

In the beautiful Giardini area will be hosted the 29 Pavilions of the participating countries. Set amidst tall trees, the pavilions themselves form a sort of anthology of important twentieth-century architecture. While the Italian Pavilion is located in the Arsenale area: the renovated and enlarged Italian Pavilion will overlook the adjacent Giardino delle Vergini and will be one of the main innovations of this year edition. The Pavilion will also host a special exhibition within the exhibition, “COLLAUDI. Omaggio a F. T. Marinetti“.

The theme of the 53rd International art Exhibition is “Making Words” and wants to emphasize the process of artisitic creation, as each artist with his work of art wants to represent a vision of the world. Works from 90 artists from all-over the word and all forms of artistic expression are represented: painting and drawing, sculpture, photography, video and film, installation art, performance and a live parade.

A great number of collateral events will make the visit –if possible- even richer.

And, of course, the magic city of Venice, where art and culture are the tissue of the city and its life, will be the superb scenery for this great event.

For any traveler interested in Classic as well as Contemporary Art, a visit to Venice and the International Art Exhibition are a “must see”.

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Urbino - Ducal Palace and Marche National Gallery - from April 4th to July 12, 2009

The painter Raffaello Sanzio (Rafael in English) was born in 1483  in the city of Urbino, where he began his artistic career in the shop of his father Giovanni Santi,  painter of  the Duke and literate.

The Ducal Palace in Urbino is one of the most important monuments in Italy and is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site. The construction of the Ducal Palace was begun by Duke Federico da Montefeltro who lived there with his wife Battista Sforza. The best architects and artists of XV century participated to the construction project of the Palace, among them: Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Luciano Laurana, Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello and especially Rafael.

Taking inspiration from the context of Urbino at the end of the seventies of XV century, the exhibition, dedicated by his home town to Rafael, aims at recreating the artistic and cultural framework in which the young artist started his career.

The exhibition, taking place in the Salone del Trono and the private apartment of the Duchess of the Urbino Ducal Palace (normally hosting the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche), displays masterpieces of young artist Rafael compared with paintings of his father (Giovanni Santi) and other contemporary artists.

In 1505, Rafael left Urbino and moved to Florence and Perugia where he stayed for a short period of time. Afterwards, Rafael was invited to Rome by Pope Julius II who had been informed about this young talented artist by Bramante. During his stay in Rome, in 1511 Rafael painted the breathtaking Vatican Rooms, historical-artistic evidence of incomparable value.

The exhibition is dedicating its final section to the very close relationship between Rafael and the most important art handicraft of Urbino: majolica. In this section it is possible to admire old majolica with representations and images based original models of Rafael.

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Rome - Capitoline Museums - from April 8th to July 5th, 2009

Beato Angelico was born at the end of the XIV century in Tuscany where he started his artistic career.

His passion and his artistic ability immediately appeared since the first works related to the art of miniature. His subjects have mainly a religious nature and are treated in a gentle and delicate manner, typical of the international gothic style. In Florence during the years of his artistic development, the intellectual life was very bouncy and in constant evolution. The new humanistic movement was gaining ground inside the important rich families and nobles of the time and the detachment from religion was more and more evident. Beato Angelico also belonged to the Observant Dominican Order and that’s the reason why he pursued the religious cause, trying to use his works as a way to reconcile the faithful Christians to the word of God.

In 1955, in the Vatican City was held an important exhibition dedicated to Frà Angelico. Today, the city of Rome is presenting another must-see exhibition of the Tuscan artist. The exhibition, staged inside the Capitoline Museums, includes the most famous paintings made by Beato Angelico, many of which have never been shown to the public. The most renowned Italian and foreign museums have borrowed their works to the supervisors of the roman exhibition whose aim is to document all the stages of the Angelico’s career: starting from his youth, rich in gothic influences, up to his maturity, mirror of the humanist lesson that during the years 40-50 of the XV century was gaining ground.

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Rome - The Colosseum - from March 27th 2009 till January 10th 2010

The city of Ancient Rome, the imperial one, still exists today under the eyes of all visitors. Very often from the underground of the city the ancient magnificence of the Roman Empire reappears with evident traces of the great power and fabulous prosperity of the lords who ruled it.

Vespasianus was the founder of the Gens Flavia and a man of a great importance during the years of his empire (69–79 AD). He was considerably open minded in relation to social policies: for example in terms of town planning, he returned to roman citizens some public urban areas, dispossessed during the reign of Nero. So, Vespasianus is to be considered as the promoter of the economic and social restoration of the whole empire which under his reign experienced a proverbial period of serenity. As a consequence of that, he was one of the most loved emperor of the roman history.

The exhibition, staged inside the Colosseum, is divided in six parts and takes also place in other areas of the eternal city including some monuments generally closed to public: the Curia, in the Foro Romano, where the main subject of the exhibition is the “imperial cult”; the Criptoportico neroniano, on the Palatino Hill, where remains of the imperial palace are displayed.

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Rome - Victorian Complex - from March 6th to June 28th - extended to July 26th

Due to its great success, the duration of the exhibition has been extended till July 26th.

After more than sixty years from the last exhibition dedicated to Giotto di Bondone, best known with the name of Giotto,  Italy is now paying a long due tribute to the character who marked the passage between classic and modern art.

The exhibition displays 150 works of art, out of which twenty have been signed by the master, while the others belong to the so called “giotteschi” and to all other artists who have  learnt the art of painting following his lesson.

The Victorian Complex of the city of Rome, from March the 6th to June the 28th, houses an impressive exhibition consecrated to Giotto, the most symbolic artist of the entire Middle Ages. The show aims at tracing Giotto’s figurative path through critical modern tools, sketching out in the meantime the cultural characteristics from which it developed.

The purpose of the exhibition is to show the Italian artistic situation between the last ten years of the XIII century and the first half of the XIV century by following the route of Giotto’s travels all over the Italian Peninsula and analyzing his innovative figurative solutions.

The innovation of the exhibition consists in the will to document with several high quality works of art the crucial point of the XIV century art, including a great part of the Italian territory that has been artistically influenced by the Giotto’s stylistic school.

Giotto inspired the artists of his times and those of the following generations with his stylistic ideas about function and nature of figurative arts, outlining new routes whose effects will be the basis of the Renaissance Great Masters’ works: three-dimensional representation of the space, naturalism of the imagine and human figure, introduction of an emotional dimension of painting.

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Florence – Palazzo Strozzi – from March 13 to August 30, 2009

Galileo Galilei, born in 1564 in Pisa, is universally recognized as one of the main representatives of the Italian Genius. He symbolized the Italian creativity, not only on the artistic fields, but also in the sciences and technology.

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His contribution and his support in favor of heliocentrism has changed the modern view of the world.

Man has speculated on the shape and structure of the universe since the dawn of history. In 1609 Galileo Galilei, using the revolutionary telescope he invented, would be able to demonstrate the earth is rotating around the sun. (more…)