Macerata
Encyclopedia
Macerata is a city and comune
in central Italy, the capital of the province of Macerata in the Marche
region.
The historical city center is located on a hill between the Chienti
and Potenza
rivers. It consisted of the Picenes city named Ricina, then, after the romanization, Recina and Helvia Recina. After the distruction of Helvia Recina by the barbarians, the inhabitants took shelter upon the hills, and eventually began to rebuild the city, first on the top of the hills then they descended again and expanded. The new rebuilt town was Macerata.
Together with the modern town, sprawling on the plain below, it has a population of about 43,000. There is a lift (elevator) connecting the two towns.
In the central Piazza della Libertà is the Loggia dei Mercanti with two-tier arcade
s dating from the Renaissance
. There are a number of striking palazzi, mostly along Corso Matteotti, including Palazzo dei diamanti. Next to the Loggia dei Mercanti, Corso della Repubblica leads to Piazza Vittorio Veneto where, in the Palazzo Ricci, there is a museum
and art gallery
: the most important artpiece is the Madonna and Child by Carlo Crivelli
. Another museum is the Museo delle Carrozze (carriages).
The cathedral
was built in Neoclassical style in 1771–1790; it has the remains of a 15th century Gothic bell tower. The interior was designed by Cosimo Morelli
.
The University of Macerata
was founded in 1290 and has about 13,000 students; Macerata also has an art school
, two publishing houses (Liberilibri and Quodlibet), jazz
clubs and the like.
The Palazzo Buonaccorsi
was built in 1700–1720 for Count Raimondo Buonaccorsi and his son Cardinal Simone Buonaccorsi using designs by Giovanni Battista Contini. The piano nobile is known for the Sala dell'Eneide, decorated with frescoes by Rambaldi
, Dardani
, Solimena
, and canvases by Garzi
and Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole
.
Just north of the town, at the Villa Potenza, lie the remains of ancient Helvia Recina, a Roman
settlement destroyed by the Visigoth
s.
Some way south of the town is the Romanesque
church of San Claudio al Chienti: its unusual shape is due to one church being built on the remains of another. It was built during the 14th century as war reparation to Montolmo (today's Corridonia
), which defeated Macerata in a bloody and long war. San Claudio al Chienti is very close to Macerata, but it has been a Frazione of Corridonia
since that time.
arena
erected in the 1820s as a stadium
for a form of handball
by the architect Ireneo Aleandri. The orchestra pit
is so wide that musicians at each end cannot hear each other. The first opera performed was Giuseppe Verdi
's Aida
in 1921. It was promoted by the association "Società Cittadina" led by Count Pieralberto Conti. The arena was transformed into a real outdoor theatre with an enormous parabolic stage. Tte orchestra was placed immediately behind it and the seats were located around it. In the middle of the front sidewall was built a large door that allowed the entrance of the Egyptian conqueror. Posters were created by Verona
's official Aida employee Plino Codognato and the painter Emilio Lazzari. The opera, and its Triumphal March employed a lot of people (about one thousand props and also different animals such as horses and camels). Francisca Solari interpreted Aida and Alessandro Dolci sang the great tenor role in the robes of Radames. The hospitality of Macerata grew quickly and new ways were created to stay longer in the town, so the opera was repeated 17 times with more than seventy thousand appearances, a record never equaled. The next year the opera La Gioconda
was sung. Until 1927 no more shows were performed at which time the famous tenor Beniamino Gigli
sang a unique concert for invalids of the Great War.
After the Second World War until the sixties it was rare to have operas in the local "Bel Canto". In 1967, Carlo Perucci, a San Benedetto (Marche
) native, established the first stable local band with the song Circuito lirico delle Marche, so when he was in Macerata he asked the city hall to offer new spectacles. With enthusiasm the local administrators allowed him to offer new extraordinary contracts: Giuseppe Verdi's Otello
(with Del Monaco and Protty), Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly
(with Antonietta Stella and Nicola ruggeri). Finally, on August 3, the musical season began and continues to today.
Overall it is very relevant, compared sometimes to the Italian famous Arena di Verona and Caracalla
operas. During this period, about 28 years, when Carlo Perucci was artistic director, the "Sferisterio" Arena, because of its perfect acoustics, housed the most important international voices of bel canto. The ballets of Fracci and Nureyev were performed. The presentations of Bohème by Ken Russel in 1984 and Enrico Job's Don Giovanni
were memorable. Other outstanding shows were La Traviata
and Lucia di Lammermoor
, with stage design by Czech scenographer Josef Svoboda
, Hugo De Ana's Turandot
and De Flò's Faust
and Tosca
. In the late nineties, led by Orazi as artistic director, the most important singers of the world performed in the Macerata Opera, performing in both the Sferisterio and the Lauro Rossi theaters: Luciano Pavarotti
, Plácido Domingo
, Montserrat Caballè
, Marilyn Horne
, Fiorenza Cossotto
, Ruggero Raimondi
, Mariella Devia
, Josè Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli
, Renato Bruson
, and Raina Kabaivanska
.
Since 1990, some operas have been performed in the 550-seat Teatro Lauro Rossi following extensive renovation which was completed in 1989. Originally named the Teatro Condomini and built by Antonio Bibiena in 1767, it opened in 1774 with Pasquale Anfossi
's Olimpiade. In 1872, it was renamed for the musician Lauro Rossi who was born in the town.
This positive situation made the Sferisterio Opera a success. Three times by 1992 the organization won the "Franco Abbiati award of Italian musical Critics". Other prestigious Italian lyric events reproduces Sferisterio's events: Opera di Roma, Teatro Comunale di Bologna
and La Scala
di Milano.
2006 was the year of transformation led by the new artistic director Pier Luigi Pizzi. The summer event became a "Festival". He gave all of his 50 years experience. Pizzi's career as the opera's director, designer, dresser earned many awards. The season started with a dominant theme that marks all the shows and their sets. The parabolic stage was recovered, reviving the old atmosphere of the Handball Stadium. In that year, Mozart's 250th anniversary, the theme of "initiatory journey" opened with the Magic Flute by the Austrian musician. From that moment in every season the choice of operas wass marked by a fil rouge theme, demonstrating the great intellectual vitality of opera: il Gioco dei Potenti in 2007 with Macbeth
, Maria Stuarda
, Norma
and the gala dance with Roberto Bolle
and Alessandra Ferri
; "La seduzione" in 2008 when the two-time Oscar-winning citizen of Macerata, Dante Ferretti
, was hired as director; L'inganno in 2009 with Don Giovanni
and Madama Butterfly
.
(about 30 km away) and particularly the Appennine mountains influence the weather. The height is about 315 meters above sea level, so winter is particularly rainy and the snow is not so frequent and plentiful. Balkanic and northwestern perturbations may cause snow. Middle seasons are variable, and late snowfall and frost may occur during April. October is neither warm nor very cold. Summer is rather sunny, and sometimes the thermometer reaches 40° C. Garbino is the cause, a hot wind from the hinterland. Summer thunderstorms are frequent in August, during the evening when the weather becomes quite unstable.
, Germany, since 1963 Issy-les-Moulineaux
, France, since 1982 Floriana, Malta, since 2007
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in central Italy, the capital of the province of Macerata in the Marche
Marche
The population density in the region is below the national average. In 2008, it was 161.5 inhabitants per km2, compared to the national figure of 198.8. It is highest in the province of Ancona , and lowest in the province of Macerata...
region.
The historical city center is located on a hill between the Chienti
Chienti
The Chienti is a river in the Marche region of Italy. Its mouth is on the Adriatic at the town of Civitanova Marche ....
and Potenza
Potenza
-Transportation:Potenza is a rail junction on the main line from Salerno to Taranto, managed by FS Trenitalia; it has also a connection to Altamura, served by the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane regional company...
rivers. It consisted of the Picenes city named Ricina, then, after the romanization, Recina and Helvia Recina. After the distruction of Helvia Recina by the barbarians, the inhabitants took shelter upon the hills, and eventually began to rebuild the city, first on the top of the hills then they descended again and expanded. The new rebuilt town was Macerata.
Together with the modern town, sprawling on the plain below, it has a population of about 43,000. There is a lift (elevator) connecting the two towns.
Main sights
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
s dating from the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. There are a number of striking palazzi, mostly along Corso Matteotti, including Palazzo dei diamanti. Next to the Loggia dei Mercanti, Corso della Repubblica leads to Piazza Vittorio Veneto where, in the Palazzo Ricci, there is a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
and art gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
: the most important artpiece is the Madonna and Child by Carlo Crivelli
Carlo Crivelli
Carlo Crivelli was an Italian Renaissance painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility, who spent his early years in the Veneto, where he absorbed influences from the Vivarini, Squarcione and Mantegna...
. Another museum is the Museo delle Carrozze (carriages).
The cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
was built in Neoclassical style in 1771–1790; it has the remains of a 15th century Gothic bell tower. The interior was designed by Cosimo Morelli
Cosimo Morelli
Cosimo Morelli was an Italian architect, an exponent of the neoclassical architecture in Italy.-Biography:He was born at Imola. His father, also an architect, studied under Giovanni Domenico Trifogli , who was considered to be one of the Comacini, whose works were much appreciated in northern...
.
University of Macerata
The University of Macerata is a university located in Macerata, Italy. It was founded in 1290 and is organized in 7 Faculties.-Organization:These are the 7 faculties in which the university is divided into:* Faculty of Communication Sciences...
was founded in 1290 and has about 13,000 students; Macerata also has an art school
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
, two publishing houses (Liberilibri and Quodlibet), jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
clubs and the like.
The Palazzo Buonaccorsi
Palazzo Buonaccorsi
The Palazzo Buonaccorsi is a palace in Macerata, Marche, Italy. It was built in 1700-1720 for Count Raimondo Buonaccorsi and his son, Cardinal Simone Buonaccorsi, using designs by Giovanni Battista Contini...
was built in 1700–1720 for Count Raimondo Buonaccorsi and his son Cardinal Simone Buonaccorsi using designs by Giovanni Battista Contini. The piano nobile is known for the Sala dell'Eneide, decorated with frescoes by Rambaldi
Carlo Antonio Rambaldi
Carlo Antonio Rambaldi was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in his native Bologna. He was a pupil of Domenico Vianni....
, Dardani
Antonio Dardani
Antonio Dardani was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.He was born and active in Bologna, where he had been a pupil of Giovanni Maria Viani and Marcantonio Toni.-References:...
, Solimena
Francesco Solimena
Francesco Solimena was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen.-Biography:Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino, near Avellino....
, and canvases by Garzi
Luigi Garzi
Luigi Garzi was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Born in Pistoia, and died in Rome, where he was one of the main pupils of Andrea Sacchi. He is also often referred to as Ludovico Garzi. In 1680 Garzi was appointed Regent of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon, the papal honor...
and Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole
Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole
Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole was an Italian painter and engraver from Bologna, active in the late-Baroque period....
.
Just north of the town, at the Villa Potenza, lie the remains of ancient Helvia Recina, a Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
settlement destroyed by the Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
s.
Some way south of the town is the Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
church of San Claudio al Chienti: its unusual shape is due to one church being built on the remains of another. It was built during the 14th century as war reparation to Montolmo (today's Corridonia
Corridonia
Corridonia is a comune in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about 40 km south of Ancona and about 8 km southeast of Macerata.Corridonia was called, until 1931, Pausula...
), which defeated Macerata in a bloody and long war. San Claudio al Chienti is very close to Macerata, but it has been a Frazione of Corridonia
Corridonia
Corridonia is a comune in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about 40 km south of Ancona and about 8 km southeast of Macerata.Corridonia was called, until 1931, Pausula...
since that time.
Sferisterio Opera Festival
In July and August the Sferisterio Opera Festival is held in the 3,500 to 4,500 seat (depending upon each opera's sets) Arena Sferisterio. It is a huge neoclassicalNeoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
arena
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
erected in the 1820s as a stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
for a form of handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
by the architect Ireneo Aleandri. The orchestra pit
Orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required...
is so wide that musicians at each end cannot hear each other. The first opera performed was Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
in 1921. It was promoted by the association "Società Cittadina" led by Count Pieralberto Conti. The arena was transformed into a real outdoor theatre with an enormous parabolic stage. Tte orchestra was placed immediately behind it and the seats were located around it. In the middle of the front sidewall was built a large door that allowed the entrance of the Egyptian conqueror. Posters were created by Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
's official Aida employee Plino Codognato and the painter Emilio Lazzari. The opera, and its Triumphal March employed a lot of people (about one thousand props and also different animals such as horses and camels). Francisca Solari interpreted Aida and Alessandro Dolci sang the great tenor role in the robes of Radames. The hospitality of Macerata grew quickly and new ways were created to stay longer in the town, so the opera was repeated 17 times with more than seventy thousand appearances, a record never equaled. The next year the opera La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
was sung. Until 1927 no more shows were performed at which time the famous tenor Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism...
sang a unique concert for invalids of the Great War.
After the Second World War until the sixties it was rare to have operas in the local "Bel Canto". In 1967, Carlo Perucci, a San Benedetto (Marche
Marche
The population density in the region is below the national average. In 2008, it was 161.5 inhabitants per km2, compared to the national figure of 198.8. It is highest in the province of Ancona , and lowest in the province of Macerata...
) native, established the first stable local band with the song Circuito lirico delle Marche, so when he was in Macerata he asked the city hall to offer new spectacles. With enthusiasm the local administrators allowed him to offer new extraordinary contracts: Giuseppe Verdi's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
(with Del Monaco and Protty), Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
(with Antonietta Stella and Nicola ruggeri). Finally, on August 3, the musical season began and continues to today.
Overall it is very relevant, compared sometimes to the Italian famous Arena di Verona and Caracalla
Caracalla
Caracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...
operas. During this period, about 28 years, when Carlo Perucci was artistic director, the "Sferisterio" Arena, because of its perfect acoustics, housed the most important international voices of bel canto. The ballets of Fracci and Nureyev were performed. The presentations of Bohème by Ken Russel in 1984 and Enrico Job's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
were memorable. Other outstanding shows were La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
and Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
, with stage design by Czech scenographer Josef Svoboda
Josef Svoboda
Josef Svoboda was a Czech artist and scenic designer.Svoboda was born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia . He began his training as an architect at the Central School of Housing in Prague. At the end of World War II he became interested in theatre and design...
, Hugo De Ana's Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
and De Flò's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
and Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
. In the late nineties, led by Orazi as artistic director, the most important singers of the world performed in the Macerata Opera, performing in both the Sferisterio and the Lauro Rossi theaters: Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
, Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Montserrat Caballè
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....
, Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
, Fiorenza Cossotto
Fiorenza Cossotto
Fiorenza Cossotto is an Italian mezzo soprano. She is considered by many to be one of the great mezzo-sopranos of the 20th century.-Life and career:...
, Ruggero Raimondi
Ruggero Raimondi
Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures.-Early training and career:Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II...
, Mariella Devia
Mariella Devia
Mariella Devia is an Italian soprano, well known for performing many roles in the bel canto repertoire.Born in Chiusavecchia, Devia trained at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Iolanda Magnoni...
, Josè Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli
Katia Ricciarelli
-Biography:Born at Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music.She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in La bohème in Mantua in 1969,...
, Renato Bruson
Renato Bruson
Renato Bruson is an Italian operatic baritone. Bruson is widely considered one of the most important Verdi baritones of the late 20th and early 21st century. He was born in Granze near Padua, Italy.-Biography and career:...
, and Raina Kabaivanska
Raina Kabaivanska
Raina Kabaivanska is a Bulgarian opera singer, one of the leading lyrico-spinto sopranos of her generation, particularly associated with Verdi and Puccini, although she sang a wide range of roles....
.
Since 1990, some operas have been performed in the 550-seat Teatro Lauro Rossi following extensive renovation which was completed in 1989. Originally named the Teatro Condomini and built by Antonio Bibiena in 1767, it opened in 1774 with Pasquale Anfossi
Pasquale Anfossi
Bonifacio Domenico Pasquale Anfossi was an Italian opera composer. Born in Taggia, Liguria, he studied with Niccolò Piccinni and Antonio Sacchini, and worked mainly in London, Venice and Rome....
's Olimpiade. In 1872, it was renamed for the musician Lauro Rossi who was born in the town.
This positive situation made the Sferisterio Opera a success. Three times by 1992 the organization won the "Franco Abbiati award of Italian musical Critics". Other prestigious Italian lyric events reproduces Sferisterio's events: Opera di Roma, Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Teatro Comunale di Bologna
The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy, and is one of the most important opera venues in Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season....
and La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
di Milano.
2006 was the year of transformation led by the new artistic director Pier Luigi Pizzi. The summer event became a "Festival". He gave all of his 50 years experience. Pizzi's career as the opera's director, designer, dresser earned many awards. The season started with a dominant theme that marks all the shows and their sets. The parabolic stage was recovered, reviving the old atmosphere of the Handball Stadium. In that year, Mozart's 250th anniversary, the theme of "initiatory journey" opened with the Magic Flute by the Austrian musician. From that moment in every season the choice of operas wass marked by a fil rouge theme, demonstrating the great intellectual vitality of opera: il Gioco dei Potenti in 2007 with Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera, , in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart....
, Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
and the gala dance with Roberto Bolle
Roberto Bolle
Roberto Bolle is an Italian ballet dancer. He is currently a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and also holds guest artist status with The Royal Ballet and La Scala Theatre Ballet, making regular appearances with both companies.- Overview :...
and Alessandra Ferri
Alessandra Ferri
Alessandra Ferri is a retired Italian prima ballerina assoluta. She received her training at the La Scala Theatre Ballet School and the Royal Ballet School...
; "La seduzione" in 2008 when the two-time Oscar-winning citizen of Macerata, Dante Ferretti
Dante Ferretti
Dante Ferretti is an Italian production designer, art director and costume designer for films.In his career, Ferretti has worked with many great directors, both American and Italian, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Federico Fellini, Terry Gilliam, Franco Zeffirelli, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford...
, was hired as director; L'inganno in 2009 with Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
and Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
.
Famous residents
- The preacher of Roman Jesuits Matteo RicciMatteo RicciMatteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries. His current title is Servant of God....
was born in Macerata in 1552. Ricci was also a mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and the first western man to enter BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
in 1601 and to translate into ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
Western classics like EuclidEuclidEuclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
, CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
and many others.
- The Italian opera singer and composer Basilio BasiliBasilio BasiliBasilio Basili was an Italian tenor and composer.Basili was born in Macerata. In 1827 he moved to Madrid where he debuted on September 14 at the Teatro de La Cruz singing Otello by Rossini. He moved permanently to Madrid in 1837, where he was a professor and served as a conductor and an...
was born in Macerata in 1804.
- Giuseppe TucciGiuseppe TucciGiuseppe Tucci was an Italian scholar of oriental cultures, specialising in Tibet and history of Buddhism. During its zenith, Tucci was a supporter of Italian Fascism, and he used idealized portrayals of Asian traditions to support Italian ideological campaigns...
(1894–1984), the Italian scholar of oriental cultures, was born in Macerata. He is the recipient of the 1978 Jawaharlal Nehru AwardJawaharlal Nehru AwardJawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding is an international award presented by the Government of India. It was founded in 1965 and is administered by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to people "for their outstanding contribution to the promotion of international...
for international understanding and a pioneer of archaeological excavations in various locations in Asia, from IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
to TibetTibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
.
- The FuturistFuturism (art)Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
painter and BauhausBauhaus', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
architectArchitectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, Ivo Pannaggi, was born and died in Macerata (1901-1981) after living in Rome, Berlin and Norway.
- The Production DesignerProduction designerIn film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
Dante FerrettiDante FerrettiDante Ferretti is an Italian production designer, art director and costume designer for films.In his career, Ferretti has worked with many great directors, both American and Italian, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Federico Fellini, Terry Gilliam, Franco Zeffirelli, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford...
, was born in Macerata
Climate
Typically hilly, the climate is both Mediterranean and Continental. The Adriatic SeaAdriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
(about 30 km away) and particularly the Appennine mountains influence the weather. The height is about 315 meters above sea level, so winter is particularly rainy and the snow is not so frequent and plentiful. Balkanic and northwestern perturbations may cause snow. Middle seasons are variable, and late snowfall and frost may occur during April. October is neither warm nor very cold. Summer is rather sunny, and sometimes the thermometer reaches 40° C. Garbino is the cause, a hot wind from the hinterland. Summer thunderstorms are frequent in August, during the evening when the weather becomes quite unstable.
Districts
Acquesalate, Acquevive, Botonto San Giacomo, Botonto Sant'Isidoro, Cervare, Cimarella, Cincinelli, Collevario, Colleverde, Consalvi, Corneto, Helvia Recina, Isola, Madonna del Monte, Montanello, Piediripa, Sforzacosta, Valle, Vallebona, Valteia, Villa Potenza.Twin towns
Weiden in der OberpfalzWeiden in der Oberpfalz
Weiden in der Oberpfalz is a district-free city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 100 km east of Nuremberg and 35 km west of the Czech border. A branch of the German Army's NCO Academy is located here...
, Germany, since 1963 Issy-les-Moulineaux
Issy-les-Moulineaux
Issy-les-Moulineaux is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. On 1 January 2003, Issy-les-Moulineaux became part of the Communauté d'agglomération Arc de Seine along with the other communes of Chaville, Meudon, Vanves and Ville-d'Avray...
, France, since 1982 Floriana, Malta, since 2007