Tag: italian night-out

Italian music festivals in summertime between July and August

Are you going to Italy and are you desperately looking for music concerts? The locations here in Italy are astonishing! Castles, churches, amphitheatre and amazing squares throughout Italy are full of high-quality performances during the summer.

Outdoor music and performing arts are fantastic in many towns and cities along Italy during the summer, but we can advice also some regular big festivals, such as the following:

Veneto:

Let’s start with Verona Opera, one of the most important summer opera festival, with open-air performances  in the incredible scenic background of the famous and well-preserved Roman amphitheatre of Verona.

Lombardia:

LakeComo Festival: Music on LakeComo means a lot of summer performances around the lake (starting in July). The festival showcastes international performing artists and composers, with great sightseeing. Soundscape composition and performance exchange is instead a frontier to the discover: aka it is a festival for new music in Italy, both instrumental and vocal. Whare to go? Soundscape is located in Maccagno on Lake Maggiore.

Tuscany:

Incontri in Terra di Siena located in Southern Tuscany sees the performances of four concerts, usually starting in late July, while the Puccini Festival is dedicated to the famous opera writer and will take place in an astonishing open-air theatre in Torre del Lago Puccini, 5 km far from Viareggio and 25 km far from both Pisa and Lucca! The performances will be held in July and August.

 

 

Umbria:

The Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia is one of the most famous music festivals in Italy and internationally, with performers from all around the world. Lots of free music on the streets of Perugia during the days of the festival, too! MusicFestPerugia is a classical music festival held in August for two weeks again in Perugia in several of town’s historical monuments and churches.

Trasimeno Music Festival is located also in Umbria: a series of classical music performances on the shores of Lake Trasimeno, Perugia, and Gubbio starting in July. 

Lazio:

Estate Romana is a festival of music and performing arts with events throughout Rome during the summer. Tuscia Opera Festival, is held instead in  Viterbo, north of Rome and again it is an opera festival in a historic outdoor venue but really convenient.

Abruzzo:

Soundlabs Festival is held in late July or early August, is worth to see: an alternative and indie music festival with major international independent music acts from the UK, US and Italy! Roseto degli Abruzzi becomes the star in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. For a more “classical” approach, check Pescara Jazz festival,  an international jazz festival in July held in Pescara.

 

The aperitivo time in Italy: enjoing wine and finger food a là Italienne

If I say “high-quality, seasonal, regional ingredients”, what do you think of? Yes, the answer is “Italian cousine and recipes“.

Italian food is absolutely regional, meaning that it could exists some “special” dishes you can eat only in one town or a small number of nearby towns!
Do you think you know Italian foodie and specialities because the Italian restaurants are accesible all over the world? Maybe it is not exactly like that! Italian menu vary throughout the country and we all know that food for Italians  is a very, very serious matter.

First tip: try not to be scared if you do not recognise anything on the menu and… ask the waiter!

You don’t have to spend a fortune to eat a good meal in Italy, and you don’t have to eat for hours either. Be adventurous and please  avoid restaurants where the menu is in several languages. Try instead  a “trattoria” or an “osteria,”  a “ristorante” or a “bar” with thei aperitivi better than an happy hour and it is a cheap way to eat well!

The experience of the aperitivo involves a a pre-meal drink to stimulate the appetite, but it is the ritual of going out for a drink at one of the many bars that offer it, a chance to socialize and relax.

The stars of aperitivo time (from 6pm to 9pm) is the bitter carbonated drinks like Crodino, Campari Soda and Sanbitter. Aperol and Campari are mixed in with different sodas and spirits.  Martini is white Vermouth served on the rocks with a twist of lemon.

In recent years, Italians use to drink wine as an aperitivo. In the bars you’ll have a wide variety of wines by the glass like Barolo and Chianti, Vermentino and Pignoletto or Prosecco which come along with a variety of finger food.

Different varieties of snacks like piadine, bread and pizze cut into little portions, olives, nuts, seeds, specialty breads, breadsticks, and different baked rustici. Bars will charge you for the wine, but not for the food!!

So why don’t you try a quick and cheap aperitivo for a change??!!!