This is the city’s biggest arts festival, including music, drama and dance. Music has always had a fundamental role in the artistic life of Florence, where, at the end of the sixteenth century, the very first operas were performed. Today the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the centre of musical life in Florence, is based at Teatro Comunale, and produces the Maggio Musicale Festival - together with Bayreuth and Salzburg, the oldest, important European music festival - as well as its annual concert, opera and ballet seasons.
The day of the Festa di Sant’Ambrogio is the official opening of La Scala Opera season. Opened in 1778, it is one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world. With the largest stage in Europe, it hosts sumptuous, featuring the greatest singers. Tickets to performances are usually sold out months in advance. The Teatro alla Scala was founded, under the auspices of the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, to replace the Royal Ducal Theatre, which was destroyed by fire on 26 February 1776 and had until then been the home of opera in Milan.
Renowned opera festival overlapping with the Shakespeare Festival, providing music, drama, opera and dance. Verona’s Roman amphitheatre, completed in AD 30, is the third largest in the world. The 85th Opera Festival of the Fondazione Arena di Verona will take place this year from June 22nd to September 1st with 5 opera productions and 49 performances.
A celebration of the composer’s work, in his birthplace...
International festival of drama, music and dance. In 1958, Gian Carlo Menotti put composing momentarily aside in order to dedicate his efforts to the creation of the Spoleto Festival where he has been its undisputed host and director since its beginning.
Extensive festival of sacred music, held in the city’s many Romanesque churches.
Four weeks of concerts and recitals.
Usually entered by couples; the singer often plays a mandolin, while their partner plays the castanets.