The city of music and the festival
On the Adriatic coast, at the mouth of the Foglia river, Pesaro is an elegant seaside city with a long sandy beach, Art Nouveau villas along the seafront and a historic centre of palaces and squares, which in the Renaissance was the capital of the lords Sforza and then Della Rovere. But above all it is the city of Gioachino Rossini, one of the greatest opera composers of all time, the author of "The Barber of Seville", "William Tell" and many other masterpieces, born here on 29 February 1792. In 2017 Pesaro was declared a UNESCO Creative City of Music, and in 2024 it was the Italian Capital of Culture.
The Casa Rossini, the composer's birthplace, in the street named after him, is a museum with portraits, prints, documents and objects telling the story of his life and success. Rossini left his fortune to his native town to found a music school, the Conservatorio Rossini, which still has its seat in the Palazzo Olivieri, with a beautiful concert hall. Every year in August, since 1980, Pesaro hosts the Rossini Opera Festival, one of the most prestigious opera festivals in the world, dedicated to the rediscovery and performance of Rossini's operas, with great singers, directors and conductors, in the Teatro Rossini and other venues. The city has other treasures, such as the Ducal Palace in Piazza del Popolo, the Musei Civici with the "Pala di Pesaro" by Giovanni Bellini and a rich collection of majolica, and on the seafront, the bronze "Sfera Grande" by Arnaldo Pomodoro, a symbol of the modern city.
Tip: book the Rossini Opera Festival well in advance; the cycle paths along the sea and towards the San Bartolo hill are beautiful.
Where it is
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