Pesaro, the Grand Tour Museums returns: extraordinary night openings and 4 proposals to discover the city's culture

The 16th edition of the Grand Tour Musei returns, the event to discover the heritage preserved in the museums of the Marche region, promoted by the Department of Culture of the Marche Region and the Fondazione Marche Cultura, in collaboration with the MiC – Ministry of Culture/Regional Directorate of Museums of the Marche and the Regional Coordination of the Marche of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Italy.

The initiative revolves around two important international events – International Museum Day and Museum Night – which this year coincide on a single day: Saturday 18 May. On the programme, events and meetings, workshops and new visit itineraries, following the theme indicated by ICOM for International Museum Day 2024 - Museums, Education and Research – which highlights the role played by museums as dynamic educational institutions that promote learning and cultural enrichment with an ultimate goal: the complete well-being of the person.

Rich and decidedly interesting the proposal of Pesaro 2024 that involves several museums. Saturday 18 May Pesaro Museums offers the extraordinary opening until midnight of the Civic Museums of Palazzo Mosca and Casa Rossini and three special events – also thinking of the little ones - which also involves the Oliveriano Archaeological Museum. At 21 pm, “Whispering about art”, a walk for children 5-10 years in the alleys of the city where knowledge is kept that will be whispered and glimpsed with torches in the moonlight. Anecdotes and questions will be activated upon finding small traces that lead to the discovery of the heritage that surrounds us. Cost €4, info and reservations 0721 387541 info@pesaromusei.it. Meeting point at the Civic Museums, it is recommended to bring a torch. The guided tour starts at 23pm “Eros at museums”, a journey that highlights the love aspects of the works exhibited at Palazzo Mosca and Casa Rossini, accompanied by sensual readings of myths and legends. An itinerary that was fundamentally born from the meeting of two great passions: art and loveCost €4. For information and reservations, call 0721 387541 or info@pesaromusei.it. Meet at the Civic Museums.

More Saturday 18 May (starting from 17.30pm) the Olivieri Institution, the associations L'Anfora di Novilara and Teuta Senones Pisaurenses and the District 3 – Hills and Castles propose 'Traveling with History', an itinerant route between Pesaro and the village of Novilara, on the trail of the Piceni, the ancient Italic people of Umbrian-Sabellian language who between the 9th and 3rd centuries BC lived in the mid-Adriatic area bordered to the north by the Foglia river and to the south by the Tronto river. The first stop is at 17.30 pm at the Oliveriano Archaeological Museum with 'Discovering the Piceni: a walk between life and death' curated by Brunella Paolini, director of the Olivieri Institute, and the archaeologist Enrico Sartini, a guided tour of the Novilara Necropolis preserved at the Oliveriano Archaeological Museum, and of the Capanne Picene in via delle Galligarie, believed to be the oldest dwellings in Pesaro, discovered in a 1977 excavation conducted by Professor Mario Luni/University of Urbino. At 19.30 pm the afternoon continues at the Novilara Castle, with the exhibition 'At the table with the ancients' which displays kitchen tools, banquet supplies, food products, spices and aromatic herbs; the reenactors of the Teuta Senones Pisaurenses association will show how ancient peoples practiced cheese making.

Following, the meeting hosted by Nicoletta Tagliabracci, food and wine ambassador of the Marche 'Honey, nectar of the Goddesses, beauty and cosmetics in antiquity': an excursus in the history of ancient cosmetology through the fascinating uses of honey. At 20.45pm Aperitif of ancient flavours: soup, cheeses and honey, dried grapes and sweets, wholemeal bread, all washed down with wine and mead and enlivened by Annalisa Cancellieri's Ancient Notes at Sunset, who will perform pieces of ancient music on the Celtic harp. Guided tours and activities are free and require no reservation, with the exception of the aperitif (€15, reservations required: 339 3707313 or 366 5408316). For information, call 0721 33344 or info@oliveriana.pu.it.

At the Rossini National Museum, a double appointment. Saturday 18 May at 21pm, the unmissable guided tour “Cultural contaminations: Rossini and the Giants of his time” which recounts the genius's encounters and acquaintances with the greatest personalities of his time, from Paganini to Wagner who conversed with Rossini in the last part of his life, up to leading figures in the political, artistic and literary scene such as Metternich and Stendhal. A fascinating journey that will be enriched by a surprise musical moment curated by the students of the Conservatory “G. Rossini”: Ada Ricioppo (violin), Martina Giulianelli (viola), Leonardo Muccioli (cello). The visit is included in the entrance ticket, reservations required, info and tickets 0721 1922156 info@museonazionalerossini.it.

Sunday May 19th – on the occasion of Stradomenica – at 16pm, the special visit on “The Thieving Magpie” as part of the exhibition “Masterpieces on stage. Guide to Rossini's works. The event is dedicated to the opera which was staged for the first time on 31 May 1817 at the Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala, marking Rossini's return to Milano, with another incredible success after “La pietra del Paragone” of 1812. The subject of the opera is based on the drama La Pie voleuse ou La Servante de Palaiseau by Théodore Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez from 1815, then set to music by Rossini with a libretto by Giovanni Gherardini. According to critics, the score has a very high musical quality and an intertwining of intense drama typical of semi-serious opera, which combines comedy and tragedy, inspired by real news events. Set after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, in a peasant village near Paris, the plot tells of the servant Ninetta who, victim of slander and a judicial error, is unjustly convicted of stealing a silver fork during a party but the culprit was just a magpie. The opera became very popular until the end of the century, then revived in the mid-twentieth century, and inaugurated the first edition of the Rossini Opera Festival in 1980. The visit is included in the admission ticket (reservations recommended). Info and tickets: 0721 1922156 info@museonazionalerossini.it