PESARO 2024 ITALIAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE; MUSIC & BIKES
Pesaro (Marche), the birthplace of Gioachino Rossini, has been crowned the 2024 Italian Capital City of Culture, a revolving yearly event that promotes a chosen city and encourages new cultural initiatives and programmes.
Pesaro qualified thanks to several unique factors: it has an important annual Film Festival, second only in importance to the Venice Film Festival. It is also called the “Cycling City” thanks to its BICIPOLITANA, a 90 km network of safe cycling tracks connecting the town centre with surrounding districts and the sea. Most importantly, it is also “the City of Music,” with its annual Rossini Festival, starring the world's top opera singers.
The historic centre is grouped around the towering Castello di Gradara, which dates from the early 12th century and is considered to be one of the best preserved medieval castles in Italy. Legend links the castle to the tragic love story of Paolo and Francesca, mentioned by Dante in the “Divine Comedy,” in which the jealous husband Giovanni Malatesta, overlord of Rimini, caught the couple together and killed them both.
The Pesaro Cultural Capital Year, however, is not solely focussed on the city itself, but also five surrounding towns that take turns to “host” their own programmes for a week, in rotation throughout the year.
ROSSINI OPERA FESTIVAL 2024: 7th - 23rd August presents a programme of Rossini favourites, as well as several lesser known works, performed by international stars of the Bel Canto.
M. Stenhouse
Info: info@pesaro2024.it