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TRIPS FOR MUSIC LOVERS IN ITALY
As stated by UNESCO Italy owns 30% of the world’s cultural heritage. Fine arts, architecture and design are maybe the best known treasures, but music has left a great legacy throughout the centuries too. Musicando Italy invites you to follow in the footsteps of Verdi, Puccini, Monteverdi and many other Italian composers, discovering the places where they have lived and composed, visit the most beautiful theatres and music venues of times past and present… and of course to attend the best opera, symphonic or chamber music concerts and festivals.
OUR 2011 MUSICAL JOURNEYS
Musicando Italy organises several trips every year, based on particularly interesting musical events, that are sold by various tour operators in Europe. You can thus participate by signing up with the appropriate tour operator, or, if you have a small group of people interested, you can also ask us to organize a made-to-measure itinerary for you. Please contact us for advice on the formula that best suits your wishes.
 TUSCANY
Tuscany has much to offer to culture lovers. Everyone knows of the Uffizi Museum and Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Piazza del Campo in Siena... but musically-speaking, did you know that the first “Teatro all'italiana” (theatre with balconies disposed in semi-circle shape) was built in Florence more than 350 years ago and can still be visited? Or that the Tuscan Capital also hosted some importants steps of music history, with the group of nobles called “Camerata de' Bardi” who invented the “theatre in music” at the end of the 16th century, that would later become the opera? Or that Giacomo Puccini was born and lived in the Lucca Province, composing most of his operas at his villa in Torre del Lago, today a museum, located just opposite the large open-air auditorium that hosts the Puccini Opera Festival every summer? Or that Siena hosts the very prestigious Chigiana Music Academy where today’s greatest musicians give concerts and masterclasses every summer? Then take the chance to take a different look at Tuscany... through Music!
French-speaking group leaving from Geneva, May 6th-9th
 The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious music festivals. Among the 2011 not-to-be-missed events, Verdi's opera "Aida" will be directed by film-maker Ferzan Ozpetek ("Hammam" and "Facing Windows") and conducted by the Maggio's Honory Director for Life, Zubin Mehta, who will also conduct Brahms' "Deutsches Requiem" and Luca Lombardi's "Terra" piece for large orchestra. Both events are included in this package.
The trip also offers an original approach to Florence, with off-the-beaten-track visits such as:
- the 350-year-old, and first in history, Teatro all’Italiana, with a special visit behind the scenes
- the prestigious "Opificio delle Pietre Dure" restoration workshops that are currently restoring Ghiberti’s Heaven’s Door and statues from the Boboli Gardens
- an excursion to the Chianti area, the hilly area around Florence famous for its wine and olive oil, with a tasting session in an old castle
Click here for information on the May 6-9th trip leaving from Geneva
Two French-speaking groups, one leaving from Geneva from July 22nd to 27th, one leaving from Paris from July 27th to 31st
 The chamber music festival "Pietrasanta in Concerto", featuring artists such as Martha Argerich, Sergej Krylov, Pietro de Maria, Boris Berezovski, Michael Guttman, is at the core of this long musical week-end that allows you to discover the various facets of the "Versilia" coast: the aristocratic charm of Lucca and the artistic atmosphere of Pietrasanta; the cool marble caves of Carrara and the hot seaside resort of Viareggio; the ancient-time splendour of the villas in Lucca's countryside, and the breathtaking landscape contrasts of the Versilia coast.
These tours also offer an opera performance at the famous Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago: "Turandot" (on July 23rd) or "La Bohème" (on July 30th).
Click here for information on the July 22nd-27th trip leaving from Geneva
Click here for information on the July 27th-31st trip leaving from Paris
THIS TRIP WILL BE AVAILABLE IN JULY 2012: DETAILS WILL FOLLOW IN FALL 2011.
 An original journey to discover two outstanding chamber music festivals: the prestigious "Chigiana Academy of Siena", founded in 1932, that welcomes concerts and masterclasses held by the greatest musicians of our time every summer, and "Musica Reale", a small but top-quality festival that brings together musicians from the world-famous Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to play chamber music in charming intimate venues of Siena's Province, allowing a direct and friendly contact with the audience.
Beyond music, the one-week itinerary includes the visit to the two main art cities of the area, Siena and Arezzo, and to the great Etruscan heritage and landscapes of South-Eastern Tuscany… not to mention its culinary delicacies. The comfortable hotel with swimming pool located close to Siena's city centre allows a very relaxing stay to enjoy Tuscan summer at its best.
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NORTHERN ITALY
Northern Italy is also an unexpected fount of discoveries for music lovers. You probably know of the very prestigious Scala Theatre in Milan and of the violin-making tradition of Cremona. But there is much more to see and to listen to in the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna region, since many composers and musicians have left their footprint there and music is still part of everyday life. Parma is known as the “music capital of Italy”, both for being Giuseppe Verdi’s and great conductor Arturo Toscanini’s birth place and for its incredibile offer of theatres, concerts, opera museums, music libraries, etc. In addition to La Scala, Milan also boasts a huge artistic and music heritage made of museums, churches, monumental cemeteries and much more. And Cremona hosts the world’s most prestigious collection of Stradivarius violins, over 300 violin-making workshops… but also a beautiful cathedral and very pleasant cafés in which to relax and… get musical inspiration.
 Discover the musical heritage of Lombardy and Emily
Dates to be advised
An interesting journey following in the foosteps of the great music men of Northern Italy, through the visit to the places where they have lived and worked, but also through the discovery of a specific music-related cultural heritage: wooden theatres dating back to the Renaissance, theatres “all’italiana”, opera museums…. And of course through the participation in exceptional concerts at the Verdi Festival in Parma and Busseto (details will follow closer to the date). The itinerary is accompanied by a guide specialized in music and art history, himself a musician, who speaks 7 languages.
This package is available to pre-formed groups (minimum 6 people) or to travel agencies or tour operators who would like to sell it to their customers.
Contact us for more details on this itinerary.
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