A taste (and a sip) of Art and Wine in Verona

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Especially in summer, the city offers several possibilities to have musical and wine experiences at the same time. On summer nights, the stage of the Arena comes alive with the annual open-air Opera festival – Festival dell’Opera Lirica – where traditionally performances take place at dusk and before their beginning, the spectators lit small candles as darkness falls. The most represented work is certainly the Aida of Giuseppe Verdi, which is regularly included in the posters of every season since 1992.

Across the Adige river, you can find the Roman Theatre,  that hosts  the Shakespeare  Festival and the Jazz one , events  capable of seducing  the public with poetic words and sounds. The Shakespeare Festival has been the historical nucleus of Verona's  theater for seventy  years during the summer season and has proposed the best of Italian theater in general, as well as internationally renowned companies and artists. Since 1970 one of the most prestigious events of the Roman Theater’s summer program is also the Verona Jazz Festival: there is no great artist of the national and world jazz scene who has not trod the stage of this theater.

But what about wine?

Many wineries provide not only traditional wine experiences, but also a touch of art. For example,  Gerardo Cesari hosts a permanent artistic exhibition, A tutto tondo, in collaboration with Milan and Florence Art Academies. Over 50 covers of the barriques have been transformed into works of art, painted with different styles, especially focusing on the Corvina leaf interpretations , the main protagonist production of Valpolicella wines’ production. Thanks to this project, Gerardo Cesari has been awarded in Verona during the 3rd Best of Wine Tourism Cerimony on June 20th as Regional Winner of the category Art and Culture.

If you by chance arrive in Custoza, you can’t miss a visit of the family-run winery Albino Piona, located not far from Lake Garda. The visitors will be guided by experts in a pleasant journey to discover the phases of the wine making and processing, from vineyard to bottling.  The main hall hosts every year Arte in cantina(Art in winery), an exhibition held by local artists in the wine tasting area, whose artworks  are exposed from April until October. This year the winery hosts: the sculptors Sabrina Ferrari and Titou Vergier;  the painters Amalio Accordini Nilo Bazzani and Monica Piona and also Dalle Vedove Arredamenti in quality of Interior-Outdoor Design company (from May until September 2019).

A particular way to join music and wine tasting, is offered by  Il Pentagramma Tour Operator, keen to combine musical experiences with guided tours in Verona province. The highlight of Il Pentagramma is Music from the North: the international youth band festival which takes place every year during  the last ten days of June, aiming to combine Italian culture with North-European music.