MAPPING TUSCANY

It's still summer, but temperatures have dropped (thank god!) and a lot of Italians start to move back into town after their time at the beach. Not just summer but also the Tuscan festival season is coming to a close. And just  before curtains are drawn and stages dismantled, the ColleMassari winery hosts Dionisus, the last of the three cycles of the Amiata Piano festival . Four concerts will take place from the 29th of August in the midst of barrels and barriques, and with the backdrop of the contemporary architecture of one of Italy's biggest organic wineries. F amous Italian violist Salvatore Accardo will open the cycle dedicated to the Greek wine god together with the Orchestra da Camera Italiana. The concert has been sold out for weeks, but a few tickets are still available for the following events, which stretch from classical music to jazz.  The wine cellar of the ColleMassari estate (designed by Edoardo Millesi)

With the last days of June, the summer festival season is taking off and the sound of violins and drums will shake up the lay-back Tuscan hilltop towns. Classic, pop and jazz festivals will be hold in Siena, the Val d'Orcia, the Maremma and even in the remote villages around Mount Amiata. It's a summer of beat until September, when the festival season closes with the final concerts on the isle of Elba.   Getting ready for the opera season in Massa Marittima CLASSICAL MUSIC FESTIVALS DOWN SOUTH MELODIA DEL VINO , from June 27 to July 6 at various wineries in Tuscany.  The young festival brings Mozart & co. to the world of wine. The concerts will take place in famous Tuscany vineyards (some of them designed by the world's archistars like the  Petra winery by Mario Botta or Renzo Piano's Rocca di Frassinello).  AMIATA PIANO FESTIVAL , from June 27 to September 1 in Poggi del Sasso near Cinigiano. The three cycles of classical music (wi...

Montalcino Jazz & Wine 2012 Kurt Elling, Derrek Phillips and Charlie Hunter It's a nightmare. Montalcino Jazz & Wine and Southern Tuscany's several summer festivals are passing over me like a road train. Living the life of a countryside bum in the Tuscan hinterland I'm used to ten months of the year during which nothing happens (and I mean nothing). And then, out of that cultural desert, here we are in mid July, when a whole bunch of world-class musicians are thrown at you in one single week.

Israeli singer Noa's tribute to Naples' music in Southern Tuscany Leave your Wellies at home. Rain and mud are no issues during Tuscany's summer festivals. And all those fabulous medieval or Renaissance locations will make Woodstock seem a teenage hangout. CLASSICAL MUSIC I've already written about Melodia del Vino , Musica Reale in Montalcino,   Amiata Piano Festival and San Galgano's  Opera Festival, which are some of the top  classical music festivals in Tuscany  in July 2012. But there is much more to be had when it comes to classical music down South. 

I t's all snow over Tuscany: schools are closed, highways are in a mess and airports are total no goes. If you happen to be stuck in Siena you'll be able to kill time with a few  life events . Not so if you happen to sit on a Tuscan hill, cut off from the rest of the world  - nightmare or bliss? I'd say enjoy the forced winter break in Tuscany: put another log on the fire, open a bottle of wine and get those dusty records out... Paolo Conte Vieni via con me -  live in Amsterdam 

Most people who live in a bustling city know this one. The weekend on the horizon you study your city's Time Out guide (or similar), you read up on a few events, your partner or friends circle a few other options and after hours of discussing which theater/film/concert to go to... you open a bottle of wine and watch an old dvd. This is what could happen to anybody who travels through rural Tuscany during July and August (mind you, not during the rest of the year, when good live concerts are turning into a rare species). The list of events to contemplate for this Saturday (July 16) makes me tear my hair - why all in one night?! Below my top 5:

Italy makes you think pasta, wine and Michelangelo? You are missing out on a few, but the one that can be most surprising is that Italy should also make you think... jazz! The current Montalcino JAZZ & WINE festival is the perfect place to discover for yourself some of the knack and talent that is populating the Italian jazz scene. The festival has been going strong for the last 13 years and as every year the program of JAZZ & WINE brings together international jazz celebs with Italian top players.  

It's called Umbria Jazz, and in fact Ahmad Jamal, Herbie Hancock and Branford Marsalis are there for a reason. But the most expensive concerts are the ones of Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Liza Minnelli and the artist formerly known as Prince - or is it just Prince again?