Summer nights at the piazza

Italy is the only country that transforms medieval squares into world-class open-air concert venues.

The routine is wonderfully simple.

Enjoy an aperitivo at 7 p.m., lose yourself in music at 9 p.m., and savor gelato at midnight. 

Italy has sounds that symbolize summer as much as the chirping of cicadas.

It is the sound of an orchestra tuning up from an open-air stage built against stone walls that have stood for 800 years.

From July through August, Italy transforms virtually every piazza (square), monastery courtyard, ancient amphitheater, and hilltop overlooking the sea into a music venue.

And it is the country’s smallest towns that create its most magnificent nights.

Summer nights have always captivated people with their timeless charm.

Quench your thirst with an aperitivo at 7 p.m., enjoy a performance at 9 p.m. when the heat has eased, and stroll through the illuminated streets with gelato in hand after the final curtain.

Then discuss the staging of the second act, debating this and that.

Verona: A Colossal Opera for 20,000

The most magnificent summer nights unfold in Verona.

Every summer, the ancient Roman amphitheater still standing in Verona hosts a full-scale opera festival that has been running since 1913.

As 20,000 spectators fill the stone seats, the affordable general admission seats have a wonderful tradition.

As soon as the sun sets, people lay out cushions and light small candles.

Just before the overture begins, thousands of enchanting lights flicker throughout the venue.

The opera season continues until early September, and a glass of Prosecco during the intermission has become an essential part of the experience. 

Verona’s renowned wines are also an essential part of the ritual.

Before the performance, quench your thirst with a chilled glass of Soave, and after the show, savor a glass of Valpolicella with the excitement of the evening at a local osteria.

Spoleto and the Origins of the Umbrian Festival

The model for art festivals in small provincial towns was born in Umbria.

In 1958, composer Gian Carlo Menotti founded the Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) in Spoleto, a hillside town with cobblestone alleys and a breathtaking cathedral square, to create a cultural bridge between Europe and America.

For two weeks every year from June to July, the entire town becomes a theater.

An orchestra takes up residence on the steps of the Duomo (cathedral), dance performances are held in the ancient Roman theater, and cheerful chatter drifts from bars throughout the town.

If you are reading this in August, unfortunately, you will have missed this year’s festival.

Instead, mark your calendar for next June.

But no matter the month, summer in Umbria is filled with the energy of art festivals and a passion for food.

Shaved black truffles on strangozzi pasta and savory porchetta sandwiches with freshly shaved meat from roadside stalls are simply delicious.

Ravello: Music Over the Sea

In Ravello, on the Amalfi Coast, concerts are held on a special stage that juts out over the cliffs.

Behind the orchestra, the twilight air rises 300 meters above the sea, overlooking the majestic Tyrrhenian Sea.

The music festival began in 1880 when Richard Wagner visited the area and praised the gardens of Villa Rufolo as the “enchanted garden of Klingor” from one of his operas.

Today, it continues every year until late August.

For dinner after the performance, try seafood pasta with scialatielli (hand-rolled pasta originating on the Amalfi Coast), paired with a chilled glass of Flore white wine grown in the steep hillside vineyards you just admired from the stage.

Jazz in the Streets, Rossini on the Beach

Every July in Perugia, the entire historic center is transformed into the stage for Umbria Jazz.

Ride the escalators leading into the historic center and find a city that has become one giant nightclub.

Many performances are free, and everything takes place outdoors.

Meanwhile, in the Adriatic port town of Pesaro, the Rossini Opera Festival begins in August, honoring a composer born in the town and filling the streets with song.

Spend the day on the beach and the evening listening to beautiful music. It is the ultimate summer holiday.

Also, at Torre del Lago, Puccini’s operas are performed on the shores of the lake where he composed many of his masterpieces.

As the season turns from August to September, the Belle Époque villas on Lake Maggiore in Stresa are filled with beautiful music.

If you begin researching festivals in these regions, you will soon realize that the pilgrimage never ends.

Almost every town has its own music festival, patron saint’s festival, and temporary open-air stage.

 

The Feverish Dance Festival “La Notte della Taranta”

At the end of August, a rather rowdy festival begins in Puglia.

It is La Notte della Taranta (The Night of the Tarantula), held on the final day of a music festival that tours the Salento peninsula.

Celebrated with the pizzica, a folk dance once believed to draw out the venom of tarantula bites, the festival draws some of Europe’s largest crowds and most fervent audiences to the squares of small Salento villages.

Listen to drums, tambourines, and powerful voices while quenching your thirst with chilled Salento rosé (rosato).

By 2 a.m., hundreds of thousands of people are dancing the steps passed down since time immemorial, continuing until dawn.

Ritual is Everything

Whether it is Verdi’s gala concert for 20,000 or the frenzied pizzica enjoyed by hundreds of villagers, both shape the night in the same way.

The evening stroll to the venue.

An aperitivo that serves as the true opening act.

A performance that begins under the clear night sky, as swallows dart past the stage lights and the stone walls quietly radiate the warmth of the day.

And then, the leisurely hours after the final curtain.

Savor gelato, enjoy one last glass, and walk home through a town that has marked the same night for centuries.

Italy has not created a place to play music outdoors.

It has created the perfect one-night cultural experience.

If there is one thing to learn from the summer of this festival, it is how to use time.

A cold drink at 7 p.m.

Lose yourself in the beauty of art at 9 p.m.

And after 11 p.m., never rush, but simply enjoy the time that remains.

 

TEXT／ITALIAKARA

*This article was supervised by an expert on Italian culture.