Even if it’s still summertime, today we would like to talk about an autumnal event for all the lovers of dance, ballet and music. We are talking about Torino Danza Festival 2010, which will take place in Turin from 7th September to 13th November 2010.

This edition will be subdivided into 3 different sections: “Miti”, which focuses on the esthetics and the beauty of physical movements linked to the music, “Scene dagli anni Ottanta”, which comes back to the origins of contemporary times through some of the masterpieces of dance’ history, and “Platel e les ballets C de la B”, which explores the op position between pain and hope through the enchanting poit of view of Alain Platel and his company.

Torinodanza festival 2010 will be inaugurated with Balanchine-Kylián of the Royal Ballet of Flanders on Tuesday 7th September at Teatro Regio in Turin with its first Italian premiere. The company from Belgium will arrive to Turin with three titles: Theme and Variations by George Balanchine, Forgotten Land and 27’ 52” by Jirí Kylián.

The second show offered by Torinodanza will be

La Spezia, a city located in the Eastern Riviera of Liguria, gets ready for its 85th Palio of the Gulf, which this year will take place on Sunday 1st August 2010.

The ancient Palio of the Gulf is part of the many traditional events taking place in La Spezia, a town surrounded by mountains and the sea, and every year it takes place the 1st Sunday of August in front of the waterfront “Morin”.

The Palio is a challenging rowing race among 13 fishing boats handmade by local craftsmen, with peculiar features for making them faster in water.

Probably, it takes its origins from the challenge among the crews of fishing boats in the waters of the Gulf of La Spezia (or Gulf of the Poets), where there is mussels farming (or “muscoli” as the citizens call them).

In the past, such races were very important because the winner could have the priority in discharging goods and fish, rising in this way their profit.

And still nowadays, this challenge is very expected and beloved by all the citizens of La Spezia, especially by the borgate (districts and towns taking place in the competition): Porto Venere, Le Grazie, Fezzano, Cadimare, Marola, CRDD (Circolo ricreativo dipendenti difesa), Canaletto, Fossamastra, Muggiano, San Terenzo, Venere Azzurra, Lerici and Tellaro.

However, the Palio is more than a race, is the heart of the city, is culture, art and many events scheduled in the works:

On 23rd July at 8.30 pm: inauguration of Villaggio del Palio, along the waterfront Morin and the exhibition “Sommergibili nel Golfo” created by The Historical Maritime Society.

From Saturday 24th to 28th July at 9 pm: five evenings of debates dedicated to the sea for making the public aware of climate change and the safeguard of the environment. The presence of Dario Vergassola is scheduled for such evenings.

In addition, from 28th July to 1st August there will be the Summer National Games “Special Olympics” of rowing, with crews, made up of athletes with or without intellectual disability.

The Palio of the Gulf in La Spezia will start on Sunday 1st August at about 7.30 pm: two thousands meters in about 10 minutes. The day will end up with fantastic fireworks at 10.30 pm.

La Spezia in Liguria waits for you in great numbers to watch the 85th Palio of the Gulf and enjoy the several events organized by the city.

For further information about Liguria, beaches in Liguria, islands in Liguria and much more, visit our travel guide to Liguria: www.aboutliguria.com

Summer 2010 in Siena seems to be entirely dedicated to the music, full of important initiatives, events, concerts and brand new elements.

The 78th edition of the event “Estate Musicale Chigiana” has begun on Sunday 18th July with a concert of Sofia Festival Orchestra, and the next appointment is scheduled for Saturday 24th July with the cello Antonio Meneses, followed by Joaquin Achucarro at the piano on Tuesday 27th.

Also in August, the appointments will be many: from 4th to 25th, several concerts are scheduled, having has protagonists instruments such as viola, violin, cello, piano, double bass, clarinet and some of the greatest international artists.

But the summer dedicated to the music in Siena continues. As a matter of fact, the great Siena Jazz Festival 2010 comes back to wonder spectators with great guests from all over the world.

From Friday 23rd July until 7th August 2010, the Fondazione Siena Jazz, the institution for high quality jazz training, once again organizes this great musical event, with the presence of great artists coming from America and Europe.

Where is Siena Jazz Festival 2010? Obviously in the most charming and striking places of the city! Jam sessions and extraordinary live performance will wait for you.

This year, visitors will find on the stage great international names such as John Taylor, Aaron Goldberg, Michael Blake, Jim Snidero, John Riley, Kenny Werner, Bobby Watson, Avishai Cohen, Glenn Ferris, Seamus Blake, Drew Gress, Ferenc Nemeth, Reuben Rogers, Eric Harland, Anders Jormin, Peter Bernstein, Ben Monder, Kenny Wheeler, Joel Frahm, Scott Colley, Omar Avital and Jeremy Pelt.

In addition, also many Italian artists will be present, such as Riccardo Del Fra, Stefano Battaglia, Bruno Tommaso, Furio Di Castri, Pietro Leveratto, Massimo Manzi and many others. On Saturday 24th July, Seminari Estivi (Summer Courses) of Siena Jazz will begin with the Orchestra InJam and the guest Gless Ferris.

The last two appointments are scheduled for 5th, 6th and 7th August at Enoteca Italiana (at 9.45 pm – free entrance) with many bands and jazz artists.

Finally, we remind you another appointment with music in Siena: the 35th edition of Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte in Montepulciano (a small ancient village located near Siena). The event, which was created by the composer Hans Werner Henze, began on 15th July and will continue until 1st August 2010, offering its audience its main feature: the interaction between professional, famous artists and young talents.

Once again, among the green rolling Tuscan hills and the charming Renaissance’ buildings, operas and performances created by famous contemporary authors will be put on the stage for the first time.

This year, the event aims to experimentation and innovation through studies and workshops about techniques for composing and performances.

Tomorrow, on Thursday 22nd July, Recital per violino e pianoforte is scheduled for 6 pm with the violin Eva Thorarinsdottir, and Malcom Forbes and Peckham at the piano, whereas the Concert of Contemporary Music “Ensemble 2 Agosto” is scheduled for 9.30 pm, with an absolute premiere of contemporary music.

This and much more wait for you in the medieval city of Siena, for a summer in the pursuit of music, rich in concerts, live performances and musical courses.

For further information about events in Siena, please visit our online tourist guide to Siena: www.aboutsiena.com.

The sparkling nights of Roma Vintage come back with its 2nd edition in the squares of the Italian capital, with the legendary atmospheres and rhythm of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

A not-to-be-missed appointment taking place in Parco San Sebastiano in Rome, which began on the last 11th June and will continue with several events until 15th August 2010.

Parco di San Sebastiano, placed in Via di Porta San Sebastiano, will host this great event for all the lovers of this world, with a revival of the best years of dance music, offering any kind of initiative…cinema, music, theater performances, exhibition stands.

Roma Vintage edition 2010 is a world apart that schedules several appointments: live performances for enjoying dance music hits of those years again, Jazz’n Blues, sport events, cinema reviews and exhibitions. There’s everything for the lovers of 60s, 70s and 80s!

The Cine Vintage and the area “Disco e Performances” are located in the Piazzetta Vintage, the center of the event, and here it is also possible to find wine and food stands.

The area reserved for the cinema wants to promote and give value to the cinematographic culture through many thematic reviews. The area dedicated to the dance music will make visitors feel and live the emotions of those years.

Remember, magical summer nights await you at Parco di San Sebastiano in Rome until 15th August 2010, with the presence of the greatest music of 60s, 70s and 80s, and many exhibitions every day! In addition, we remind you the FREE ENTRANCE.

For further information about events in Rome please visit the online tourist guide to Rome: www.aboutroma.com

Summer has just begun, and the Versilia Coast brings notes, songs and the greatest emotions in its nights with the famous Festival Puccini, which comes back with its 56th edition taking place from 16th July to 22nd August 2010 in Torre del Lago.

Once again, the open-air Gran Teatro Giacomo Puccini will host great guests and breathtaking operas, for a summer rich in music.

As usual, the programme schedules the celebration of eternal melodies composed by the master Giacomo Puccini and wonderful evenings of lyric music will begin, dedicated to one of the most important composers of opera in the world, who was born in the city of Lucca in 1858.

The Festival Puccini 2010 will be inaugurated by La Fanciulla del West (on 16th and 23rd July and 7th August), Puccini’s masterpiece, 100 years after its first premier at Metropolitan Opera in New York, on 10th December 1910.

Later on, there will be other three titles on the playbill:

Madama Butterfly (17th and 25th July – 1st, 14th, 22nd August)

Tosca (24th, 30th July – 8th, 13th, 21st August)

Turandot (31st July – 6th, 12th, 20th August)

We remind you also that the Festival Puccini is not just Opera.

The Festival’s spectators in fact, will have the chance to marvel at one of the greatest female voices in the world, the American soprano Renée Fleming, who will inflame the stage during the Gala Concert on 28th July, with the extraordinary presence of the 15 years old Anthony Arcaini, director and composer, a little genius of music.

Finally, on 11th August, the timeless and overall opera Romeo and Juliet, with the notorious melodies by Sergej Sergeevi? Prokof’ev and the dancers of the Imperial Russian Ballet of Gediminas Tarando, Maria Sokolnikova and Alexsander Smolyaninov of the Teatro Bolshoi.

All this and much more waits for you at Gran Teatro Giacomo Puccini in the town of Torre del Lago, in Versilia.

For further information about events in Versilia, please take a look at our tourist guide to Versilia, www.aboutversilia.com

Every third Sunday of July, the city of Venice celebrates the Festivity of Redentore, which it is both a religious and a profane event that is very appreciated by Venetians.

This year the event will take place on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July 2010, in the charming background of the Lagoon of Venice. On Saturday night, the scenery of San Marco dock will turn into a world of wonderful fireworks, which every year gather thousands visitors.

You will marvel at colors and light plays moving through spires, domes and bell towers of the city. The fireworks will begin at 11.30 pm and will continue until 12 pm and longer.

And as tradition says, at dusk enlightened boats decorated with colored air-balloons come in the San Marco dock and in the Giudecca Channel.

The traditional Festivity of Redentore dates back to 1577, a year reminding the end of a terrible disease, which was celebrated with the construction of the basilica of Palladio on the Giudecca Isle, where visitors nowadays can go and visit by crossing a 330 m long bridge made up of boats. Celebrations include also a religious procession.

Finally, the week-end ends up with the final regatta of gondolas.

Here are the events scheduled for the Festivity of Redentore 2010 in Venice:

SATURDAY, JULY 17th
7.00 pm Celebratory opening of the Thanksgiving Bridge, connecting the Zattere to the Church of the Redentore on the island of Giudecca

11.30 pm Fireworks in St. Mark’s Bay

SUNDAY, JULY 18th
Redentore Regattas, organized by the Municipality of Venice
4.00 pm A children’s twin-oared “pupparini” boat regatta
4.45 pm Twin-oared “pupparini” boat regatta
5.30 pm Twin-oared gondola regatta

7.00 pm
Thanksgiving Mass at the Church of the Redentore on the Giudecca presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Patriarch Angelo Scola, with the city authorities in attendance

Other Events

FRIDAY, JULY 16th
9.00 pm Concert “Mottetti per il Santissimo Redentore” by the Ensamble Barocco Il Sistro, music by Monteverdi, Cavalli, Castello and others – Church of San Salvador (San Marco 4835)

SATURDAY, JULY 17th
9.30 pm Concert by Banda Musicale di Tessera C.C.R.T., traditional venetian music – Fondamenta Zattere (Chiesa dei Gesuati)

8.00 pm Redentore at Forte Gazzera
8.30 pm Fireworks

9.00 pm Redentore in the arena of Piazza Mercato in Marghera

SUNDAY, JULY 18th
11.30 am Marinaressa Gardens opening ceremony, Riva Sette Martiri

Further information about the city of Venice and events in Venice are available on the website www.abouvenice.org

Have you ever heard about the “Festa de Noantri”?

It’s a typical summer event taking place every year in Rome in the beautiful district called Trastevere. In other words, the “festa de noantri” (“Our Feast”) is in opposition to “you, who live in other districts…”. This year, visitors will enjoy this special event from July 15th to 30th 2010.

The event takes its origins from a very ancient fact. The legend says that after a frightening storm, some fishermen found on the river Tevere’s banks a precious cedar wood statue representing the Virgin Mary. The statue was brought and safeguarded in the Church of St. Crisogono and became the Madonna procuress of Trastevere inhabitants.

Since then, every year a procession carried the famous statue around the streets, followed by a crowd, where many tables were set in order to eat and drink wine.

Throughout the centuries, the religious event turned into a traditional Rome happening, where today it is possible to find several stalls with sweets, toys and any sort of handmade objects. Finally, celebrations end up with wonderful fireworks.

If you have never visited Rome, then you could discover the fabulous Italian capital in summertime and enjoy the “Festa de Noantri” in Trastevere district, from July 15th to 30th 2010.

Further information about this and other events in Rome are available on our always up-to-date tourist guide to Rome: www.aboutroma.com

Inaugurated on last March 25 at the MaMbo, Museo d’Arte Moderna (Museum of Modern Art) in Bologna, the exhibition dedicated to Federico Fellini, undisputed master of Italian cinema, is going on until 25 of July 2010 and having great success.

The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Bologna’s cineteca (Bologna film collection unit), is moving from Paris – city that hosted it for a long period of time – to the Italian town, and entitled: Federico Fellini. Dall’Italia alla Luna. (Federico Fellini. From Italy to the Moon).

It is an interactive exhibition, a sort of voyage inside Fellini’s dream-like imagery, from the beginning to its full development, realized to make people understand the director and his works through obsessions that inspired him during the building of his very special characters.

Thanks to pictures on exhibit – more than 200 – original drawings – about 50 – 30 audio video stations with 12 video projections and hundreds of original documents taken from magazines, posters, slides and magazine covers of that time, the exhibition traces the scenes’ realization, the analysis of locations and the movies’ backstage through a path organized by tematic areas which are: Cultura popolare (Popular culture), Fellini al lavoro (Fellini at work), La città delle donne (The city of women) and Invenzione biografica (Biographical invention). The section entitled Fellini e la voce (Fellini and the voice) – a special area dedicated to moving images opposed to still images – enriches the exhibition with audio-video materials coming from a private collection and purchased today, by Bologna film collection unit, that offers, besides movies directed and scripted by the Italian master, different film makers who took inspiration from Fellini’s maasterpieces in the past.

The exhibition represents a unique occasion to learn to deeply know and undestand one of the icon of the Italian cinema, beloved and appreciated abroad as well, while totally entering inside obsessions and thoughts that inspired in the past, Fellini’s masterpieces.

The exhibition is open all days from Tuesday to Sunday, at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna.

For further and more detailed information, please, visit the official Modern Art Museum or Cineteca di Bologna website.

Four days of free events are waiting for you in the city of Turin (Piedmont). Loud music, concerts and rhythm.

Turin Traffic Free Festival 2010, also this year crowds the Gardens of Reggia in Venaria Reale, with many performances and concerts from July 14th to 17th 2010. A completely free festival, promoted by Regione Piemonte, Città di Torino, Provincia di Torino and Fondazione CRT, which this year is at its 7th edition.

TRAFFIC is a very special appointment that interweaves the notes of music with the colors and shades of cinema and visual arts. You can’t miss such an event!

The festival will start on Wednesday 14th July 2010 in Turin, in the charming background of Piazza Castello, which will host a performance by Charlotte Gainsbourg, a special artist on the borderline between music and cinema.

After the inauguration, Traffic will move to its main stage: the Reggia in Venaria, with 3 special evenings with bands coming from all over the world.

On Thursday 15th July, visitors will have the chance to see Paul Weller, leader of the Jam and known also as The Modfather, and the Specials, who represent the British ska music and for their first performance in Italy, and the Statuto.

On Friday 16th July, we find the rock music of the English group The Klaxons and the rhythm of dance music represented by the Placet Turbo and the Canadian dj and producer Tiga, Erol Alkan and Giorgio Gigli.

Finally, on Saturday 17th, the event will end paying homage to Africa, with the presence of the Nigerian Seun Kuti, Fela’s son, pioneer of Afrobeat, the afro dj Baia degli Angeli and Afrika Bambaataa, founding father of hip hop music in New York.

So guys, you can’t miss such a special event in Turin! Free Music and fun for everyone!

For further information about events in Turin, we remind you the online tourist guide to Turin: www.aboutturin.com

The striking art appointment with the open-air exhibition Cartasia comes back in the city of Lucca as a special background for the beginning of summer. This year, Cartasia 2010, the Biennial of Contemporary Art began on June 19th and visitors from Italy and abroad  will have the chance to enjoy it until July 18th 2010.

Which is the main theme for this year? The fifth edition of the exhibition has a very eloquent title: “Play Green Creativity”: fun, ecology and creativity interlinked through the artistic use of paper, a simple material being the only protagonist of such an event.

The exhibition will focus on issues like recycling and sustainable development by showing works by international artists coming from all over the world, selected by the competition’s jury. Among the countries represented by the several artists, besides Italy we find Russia, Mexico and England.

Besides the several en plein air installations, many other contemporary art events are scheduled: exhibitions, vernissages, literary meetings, theatre workshops and performances.

In the works, we find four personal exhibitions of artists who use paper as an essential element for expressing their own creativity: Caterina Crepax, Hemmes, Anna Onesti and Hiroaki Asahara. And just this evening, on Thursday July 1st at 6.30 pm, they will be inaugurated at La Cavallerizza: Rituali senza tempo by Anna Onesti, Strappi by Hemmes, Sogni vestiti di Carta by Caterina Crepax and the collective exhibition Amateras.

And of course, such an artistic background couldn’t be without a theatre workshop! Living the Theatre: Teatro Migliorativo/Teatro Verde in fact will focus on the important themes of ecological disasters and will suggest participants new visions of life. The workshop will be held in Lucca, with afternoon and will conclude with a performance. If you would like to take part in the workshop, you have to enroll by July 3rd.

Further information about the city of Lucca, please visit our travel guide to Versilia: www.aboutversilia.com