MAPPING TUSCANY

Incontri in Terra di Siena festival at Locanda dell'Amorosa (photo Paul Flanagan)  Stellar locations and classical music executed by with  world-class musicians is the hallmark of the Incontri in Terra di Siena festival. Cellist Antonio Lysy, grandson of writer Iris Origo, organized the first concert in the Val d'Orcia 30 years ago and since then the festival has become one of the backbones of Tuscany's classical music season. This summer Incontri celebrates its round birthday wit h an impressive line-up of musicians flying in from all over the world. Flutist  Emmanuel Pahud, pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Lucille Chung, Alessio Bax (the festival's artistic director  who appears on the Oscar-winning soundtrack of 'Call Me By Your Name'), tenor  Ian Bostridge, violist Lawrence Power and many more reunite in some of the most stunning venues of southern Tuscany.  The concerts are accompanied by a dedicated program called 'Oltre La Musica' which include...

Readers of my memoir  Aross the Big Blue Sea   know about the courageous Syrian family who after a horrendous journey to Sicily stopped over at our refugee home in the Tuscan countryside. The plight of Syrians at home and in exile is at the base of poet, dissident and journalist Rash Omran's work. Omran, who has been living in exile in Egypt since 2012, will present her recent work this July in southern Tuscany.  The reading will take place in the garden of beautiful palazzo Bracci in Montepulciano. The literary event is part of Montepulciano's longstanding  Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte , the Tuscan wine town's art and music summer festival which is in its 42nd edition.  DEFY SILENCE - SFIDARE IL SILENZIO :  Poetry, music and translation between war and exile Rasha Omran, Kim Echlin and Ashti Abdo in Montepulciano Monday, July 17, 2017 - 9.15pm Palazzo Bracci, via delle Case Nuove, Montepulciano.  Rasha Omran has been invited ...

When I first visited the Amiata Piano festival I called beforehand to make a reservation. An unnecessary one since the concert was attended by a handful of people: two of my neighbors, the mayor of our town and me with a couple of Swiss friends in tow.  Waiting for Amiata Piano Festival at the ColleMassari winery Ten years later the festival rightly celebrates its first decade and reservations have become a must for the three concert cycles that bring world class musicians to Cinigiano , a little known Tuscan town in central Maremma. Dedicated to the great Claudio Abbado, the 2014 edition will put the spotlight on some of the major names in Italy's classical music scene. The first two cycles (called Baccus and Euterpe) take place in the Sala di Musica near Poggi del Sasso (with exclusion of the concert at the church of the Montecucco estate on the 29th of June).  The final concerts at the end of August will be hold in the ColleMassari winery; its contemporary wine c...

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...

Patty Smith just isn't the type of woman, who'd be eager to appear on Italian television. If she does, you know something big is in the air.  Patti Smith performing "I, as a Person" the English version of Gabers' "Io Come Persona" This week, Italian national television broadcast Rai Tre dedicated a whole evening to singer songwriter Giorgio Gaber, who died 10 year's ago (he would have celebrated his 74th birthday on the 25th of January).  Milan born Gaber has become a solid part of Italy's cultural heritage over the years. The singer came to early fame as a young man when working for the Italian television, often performing together with Mina, Italy's most beloved female singer. Even though Gaber's performances as a young artist belong to the stellar moments of Italian television, he actually never loved the medium too much.  Gaber and Mina:  When Italian television was still fun to watch

The man is one of Italy's best known pop stars. He's talented, good looking and has sense of humor. And... he's Tuscan. Which is just one more good reason why he's taking up all that space on this blog. Tensione Evolutiva  (evolutionary tension) is Jovanotti's latest hit. The video has been filmed by Gabriele Muccino, the Italian filmmaker who's made his way to Hollywood thanks to his admirer Will Smith. The song is part of Jovanotti's latest album "Backup 1987-2012 IL BEST" (album cover designed by Maurizio Cattelan), which - as the title says - looks back on 25 years of success in Italian rap and pop music.  Last but not least, from   golden shoes   to batik suits, the man knows how to dress. It must be all that Tuscan blood.  See Jovanotti's website for the dates of his BACKUP tour (June and July 2013). No better way to meet the man himself than live in Italy this summer! 

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.

Meeting place in Magliano:  the square in front of the Renaissance church San Giovan Battista  Thanks god for the Vox Mundi festival!   Who knows when I would have discovered Magliano in Toscana  otherwise? Tuscany is such a treasure trove of beautiful villages and hilltop towns that even after 13 years in the region's South I still haven't seen it all. 

On the way to Castello Banfi - Montalcino If you love Italian wine as much as classical music , with the  the 2012 edition of the  Melodia del Vino  festival being in full swing,  this is the time to cruise Southern Tuscany . All concerts of the second part of the festival will take place in the fabulous locations of some of Tuscany's most prestigious wineries in the provinces of Siena and Grosseto. Tenuta Rocca di Frassinello,  June 30: Sayaka Shoji (violin), Marc Laforet (piano).  The Japanese violinist and Premio Paganini  winner and  the French pianist will play works of Janacek, Beethoven, Debussy and Brahms at Rocca di Frassinello . The winery has been designed by Italian star architect Renzo Piano and sports a marvelous  barric aia (a wine cellar dedicated to French barrique barrels only), which makes for a fantastic concert space.  Tenuta Rocca di Montemassi, July 3: Laure Favre-Kahn (violin), Nemanja Radulovic (...

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. 

Petra Winery by Mario Botta - one of the venues of the Melodia del Vino Festival Waiting for Montalcino's Jazz & Wine 2012? Nope, the program isn't out yet - Banfi  obviously likes suspense. All we know so far is that it's going to happen in the second half of July, so book your room anyway. Nevertheless there are good news on Southern Tuscany's festival front. Three prestigious classical music festivals have already presented their rich program for the summer 2012.  AMIATA PIANO FESTIVAL  - three cycles of classical music in July, August and at the beginning of September.  The jazz lover in you will rejoice, as one of the concerts in Collemassari's stunning wine cellar is going to host wonderful Italian jazz pianist  Danilo Rea ,  who will play a tribute to Fabrizio de André . Poggi del Sasso/Montecucco near Cinigiano (half an hour from Montalcino and Grosseto): Baccus July 19 - 22 , Euterpe August 2 - 5 , Dionisus August 30 - September 2...