Here’s an itinerary designed especially for those who love music and the people who create it.
Our tour starts off in Modena, following in the footsteps of the great Maestro, Luciano Pavarotti.
You’ll stop at the Luciano Pavarotti-Freni Community Theater, the stage where Pavarotti cultivated his talent and experienced his first successes.
Nearly next door is the street called Largo Goldoni where, in October 2017, on the tenth anniversary of Pavarotti’s death, a beautiful bronze statue was placed in his honor.
In addition to Pavarotti, the names of such revered artists as Mirella Freni, Raina Kabaivanska, and Nicolai Ghiaurov are permanently associated with the Pavarotti-Freni Theater. Each year, the theater sponsors a richly varied program of opera, concerts, and dance.
During your visit, join one of the guided tours and discover what goes on “backstage” at one of Italy’s most prestigious theaters.
About ten minutes on foot from the Pavarotti-Freni Community Theater is the Palazzo dei Musei, which houses the Este Gallery and Modena’s Municipal Museum.
Extraordinary examples of antique musical instruments are on display for the pleasure of visitors in both museums.
The Este Gallery displays such unique items as the Este Harp; three instruments with inlays of Carrara marble (a flute, a guitar, and a cymbal); and a violin and a cello with wood inlays, among others.
The Municipal Museum, meanwhile, conserves such exquisite instruments as Gennaro Fabbricatore’s lyre-guitar in wood, brass, and bronze.
To bring the first day of your tour to an end in the best way possible, visit the Luciano Pavarotti House and Museum, the home where the Maestro spent his final years.
Here, you can experience his human side, admire the personal objects he chose for his surroundings, and get a sense of how the Maestro spent his days.
The personality of the great artist comes through in photos, videos, and a display of the celebrated costumes that marked his career.
We move on to Bologna on the second day of our music tour, stopping first at the house on via D’Azeglio where one of Italy’s most beloved singer-songwriters lived and worked: Lucio Dalla.
Today, his home houses the Dalla Foundation, and guided tours are available.
In Dalla’s eccentrically decorated rooms, adorned with the most singular works of art, the visitor comes to know Dalla as a musician, certainly, but also as a multifaceted artist who was an expert in art and film.
His passions and his music come to life through captivating anecdotes and in the charming objects that filled his home.
Your musical tour of Bologna now takes you to another site that is symbolic for Bologna: the Fonoprint Recording Studio.
Few people know the studio exists, even though it is, in reality, a temple to Italian pop music.
Some of the country’s most celebrated singer-songwriters have recorded their albums here: Blue’s by Zucchero Fornaciari, whose ensemble is known simply as “Zucchero”; Bollicine by Vasco Rossi, and Varietà by Gianni Morandi.
Take one of the guided tours that are offered periodically and experience the Fonoprint Studios Museum of Sound and Song up close. The museum’s holdings range from old-style mixers to today’s most cutting-edge instruments.
The traditions of music are firmly rooted in the area outside Bologna as well.
In Budrio, for example, an unusual wind instrument has come to symbolize an entire culture: the ocarina.
The story of this small terracotta flute, which brought Budrio to the attention of the world, is recounted at the Franco Ferri Museum of the Ocarina and of Terracotta Musical Instruments.
Hundreds of historical items are on display at the museum, including musical instruments, photographs, record albums, and scores that tell the story of the local creative spirit.
The final stop on our tour takes us to Porretta Terme, which might seem like an improbable place to find widespread enthusiasm for music.
In fact, Porretta Terme is best known for its hot springs, and the town’s soulful side is unexpected.
And yet the Porretta Soul Festival takes place there every summer, a varied program of musical offerings that is among the most important gathering of soul musicians, including important American artists, in Europe.
Murals around town testify to the degree to which soul is in the air all year round, and visits to Porretta’s Soul Museum are available with advance reservations.
The museum’s exhibits describe past years of the Soul Festival as well as the town’s decades-old tradition of music.
