Citta della Pieve, Italy
Our home in Italy...
Italy is known all over the world as the land of beautiful singing, not only for the many glorious voices brought forth from her graceful soil, but for the music of her very language, and the poetic soul of her citizens who made it so.
Citta della Pieve is located in Umbria: "The Green Heart of Italy" where rivers, Etruscan ruins, velvety ravines, and peaceful landscapes beckon. This town, which overlooks Lake Trasimeno and the Valdichiana Valley, is the site every year of a 10 day city-wide theatrical tribute to the heyday of Pietro Perugino, her most famous son. Teacher of Raphael and represented in museums across the world, including the Louvre and Sistine Chapel, Perugino's artistry is reflected in the current residents of his town, as they put on velvet costumes, mount stalwart carts at the side of cannons, twirl banners and ingenuously reenact the ancient Palio dei Terzieri (an archery competition among three neighborhoods).
Equidistant from Rome and Florence (aprox. an hour and twenty minute train ride) Citta della Pieve is a beautiful small city, where traditional Italian culture survives to this day. It is a warm, tranquil, nurturing haven in which our artists "feel at home".
International Opera Theater performs at the end of Palio in the recently restored Teatro Comunale di Cittą della Pieve, another jewel in the cultural life of the city. Constructed between 1830 and 1834, on a design of Giovanni Santini, one of Umbria's most renowned architects, its ten year restoration began in 1990 under the meticulous hands of local artisans, Antonio Marroni and his son, Mario. With a grand stage, fully modernized dressing rooms and technical facilities, orchestra pit, rehearsal space and intimate four tiered house, Teatro Comunale di Citta della Pieve stands today as one of the most beautiful small theaters in all of Italy.
