If you’re the type of traveller who loves incorporating big events into their travels, you may want to consider heading to Le Marche in the next few years; the region is celebrating some of the world’s greatest artists with some fantastic events which truly capture the heart of Italy’s most famous cultural heritage.
Our wonderful intern Domiziana has the lowdown on which events in Le Marche you need to go to, and when:
2018: Gioacchino Rossini, Pesaro
Pesaro, located in the northern part of the region, is not just a famous beach resort, but also the hometown of the internationally-famous composer Gioacchino Rossini.
Although Rossini left the city when he was just 8 years old and spent the rest of his life between Italy and Europe, he never forgot Pesaro and left his heritage to the town when he died. From that moment the city has never stopped honouring and celebrating its famous son; in 1882 the Conservatorio Rossini was founded and soon it became – and still is – one the most important conservatories in Italy. Today the city is the house of more than 700 musicians and composers and boasts a famous theatre, two orchestras, foundations and workshops.
The strong bond with music and Rossini is the reason why Pesaro has become part of the Creative Cities Network of UNESCO as “City of music” in 2017 and each year the internationally-renowned ROS – Rossini Opera Festival takes place in the month of August and makes Pesaro the main cultural hub for all Rossini’s lovers. As 2018 is the 150th anniversary of Rossini’s death, concerts and exhibitions will form a year-round celebration, culminating with the great opening of the new museum about Rossini in Palazzo Montani Antaldi in February 2019. Do not miss the chance to watch incredible plays such as the famous “Barber of Seville” or listen to more private compositions as “Petite Messe Solenne” in the city where it all started. You can also visit Rossini’s birth house – which includes a multimedia experience where you can ‘meet’ the composer via virtual animation, as well as taste some of his favourite dishes and wines thanks to the project “Rossini Gourmet”.
2019: Giacomo Leopardi, Recanati
The medieval town of Recanati, in the central province of Macerata, also has a strong link to music, since it is the birthplace of the famous tenor Beniamino Gigli. The town honours his son with a special tour through the places where he grew up and loved to come back to during his holidays, which visitors can experience during the month of August.
Recanti also celebrates art – particularly Renaissance art – thanks to the work of Lorenzo Lotto, a Venetian artist that created for the town two of his most famous paintings: “The Annunciation of Recanati” and the “Polyptych of San Domenico”, now hosted in the Museo Civico of the town. The painter is honoured through a special exhibition as well, which will end at the beginning of September, just before the 2019 great event season dedicated to poet Giacomo Leopardi.
Even though lyric music and Renaissance painting are linked to Recanati, poetry is the art that is truly part of the town DNA. Leopardi is one of Italy’s most famous poets and one the main figures of Romanticism and his birth town has always been a source of inspiration for his poems, which reflect his conflicted soul, his pain, and the peacefulness he found in the nature. A visit to Recanati is a journey through the spirit of this poet, who will be celebrated through a series of exhibitions and special tours during the 200th anniversary of his most famous poem “L’Infinito”, written in 1819. Tourists will have the chance to have a glimpse into Leopardi’s life, visit the famous “Colle” (hill) where he could stare at the “Infinite” as well as see the house of Silvia, the girl Leopardi was in love with, and the small square that inspired the poem “Saturday Night in the Village”.
2020: Raphael, Urbino
If you are interested in Renaissance and do not want to miss the chance to see some of the greatest paintings in the history of art, then be sure to mark 2020 on your calendar.
This will be the celebration year of one of Italy’s main artists, Raphael: during the 500th anniversary of his death, the leader of Renaissance painters and real enfant prodige of his times will be celebrated through special exhibitions in his birth town, Urbino.
One of the main cultural centres in the early Renaissance, this hill-top town was described as “a city with the shape of a palace” due to its imposing Ducal Palace that overlooks the medieval centre with its famous twin towers. Nowadays, Urbino is one of the best kept examples of a Renaissance town, where artists coming from all over Italy and all over Europe joined forces and created on the most praised courts of that time. This ambitious project was possible thanks to Urbino’s forward-thinking ruler, Federico da Montefeltro, who called at his court artists such as Piero della Francesca, Luciano Laurana, Donato Bramante and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Visitors can still admire their works in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, the main regional museum set in the Ducal Palace. The greatness of these works of art as well as the harmony that characterises Urbino’s palaces and streets were a source of inspiration for the young Raphael, who discovered the secrets of painting thanks to his father Giovanni Santi, one of the court’s artists. In the courtyard of their house in Via Raffaello it is still possible to see some spots of the colours they created by grounding into powder minerals and coloured rocks. The celebrations in Urbino will start in October 2019 with the great exhibition “Raphael and his friends from Urbino”, where visitors will take a plunge back to the 16th Century, followed by other exhibitions in the Ducal Palace with works from Paolo Uccello and Titian.
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