Archive for 'June'

The Lucca Summer Festival is one of Italy's most famous music festivals and, this year, celebrates twenty years since its inception. As a result, the line-up is rather extraordinary. With events taking place from June to September, there are plenty of chances to experience this Tuscan music institution once you have found a luxury villa in Lucca.

Italy takes her festivals seriously but while the word “festival” might conjure images of boho outfits or muddy fields to people in different parts of the world, Tuscany's festivals tend to be smaller local events that are more about food than music. Despite this, there are actually plenty of great music festivals throughout Italy that attract big names. In fact, local governments often organise big concerts in smaller cities that you would never have imagined would play host to such events. It's not unusual to accidentally stumble across a world-renowned act playing in a town square on a summer night.

One particularly well-established festival of this kind is the Lucca Summer Festival, which is in its 20th year in 2017. Taking place between June 14th and September 23rd, this year, it is held annually in the historical center of Lucca in Piazza Napoleone.

We have been counting down some of Tuscany's strangest and most extraordinary attractions in a bid to help you plan an itinerary that is a little less ordinary. Just find a luxury villa in Tuscany and then add these final sights to your list!

8. Medieval Torture Museum, San Gimignano

San Gimignano is a walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena in Tuscany. It is most well known for its many medieval tower houses and historic city centre. In this pretty centre there is a Medieval Torture Museum that is not merely a grisly and macabre tourist attraction but also an educational tool used to inform visitors about contemporary human rights abuses. Certainly a unique outing idea for any tourists in the town, it combines historic interest with modern awareness in a captivating and fascinating manner.

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is an annual arts festival in Florence, most notably important as an opera festival, which was founded in April 1933 by conductor Vittorio Gui.

Gui wished to stage both contemporary and forgotten operas in visually dramatic productions and his idea went on to become the first music festival in Italy. Today, it is a Florentine institution and is held each year usually beginning late April, continuing through May and into June.

Generally there are four operas staged over this period but lots of other events related to the festival also take place in the city over the two months. If you're a music lover and have a particular fondness for opera be sure to find a luxury villa in Florence and check this festival out for yourself.

2015 is the Year of Archaeology in Tuscany. This basically means that for the next few months major and minor museums around Tuscany will be putting on special exhibits and organising special events in order to promote the archaeological heritage of the region. If you are a history fanatic, you may want to find yourself a luxury villa in the area and experience the celebration of archaeological discovery for yourself.

The event which opens the year's events schedule is an exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Launched on March 14th and continuing through to June 21st, it is entitled “Power and Pathos - Bronze sculpture of the Hellenistic world.”