Tempting Tuesday: Ravello Festival 2009

I go to Ravello two or three times a week to visit family, meet up with my Italian/ English study partner, or to go to the outdoor market that comes every Tuesday. In fact, as soon as I finish writing this post, I will be heading to the market in Ravello in hopes of finding basilico and prezzemolo plants for the terrace. Over the last few weeks signs of the upcoming Ravello Festival 2009 have been appearing all over the city. This is one of the surest indications in Ravello that summer is just around the corner!

The Ravello Festival is an annual summer music and arts festival that takes place primarily on the beautiful grounds of the Villa Rufolo in Ravello every summer. The festival started in the mid-1950s, and was originally dedicated to the works of the composer Richard Wagner. Why Wagner and Ravello? The connection goes back to 1880 when Wagner made a journey up to Ravello on the back of a donkey. (For those of you who curse the tiny road between the Amalfi Coast Road and Ravello, remember that getting up to Ravello used to be far worse!) The story goes on to say that Wagner was so taken by the beautiful gardens and breathtaking views of the Villa Rufolo that he is said to have exclaimed, “Here is the enchanted garden of Klingsor!” The connection between his opera Parsifal and the gardens at the Villa Rufolo has not been forgotten by the city of Ravello.

While this was the inspiration for the beginning of the Ravello Festival, today it offers a wide variety of music, dance, lectures and art exhibitions. The performances take place throughout the Villa Rufolo gardens, and in locations around Ravello and neighboring Scala. One of the most impressive venues is certainly the stage they build overlooking the magnificent view of the Amalfi Coast. The evening concerts are truly spectacular! But you really must explore the grounds of the Villa Rufolo, where you will find art exhibitions and small stages set up for more intimate performances.

On the Ravello Festival website I found the following breakdown of the different sections of the festival today. Each of the eight sections “is dedicated to a great artist who has stayed in Ravello and been inspired by it.”

ORCHESTRAL & DANCE SECTION, dedicated to Richard Wagner

TRENDS DESIGN SECTION, dedicated to D. H. Lawrence

CHAMBER MUSIC SECTION, dedicated to Edvard Grieg

MUSICAL PROMENADES SECTION, dedicated to E. M. Forster

CINEMUSIC SECTION, dedicated to Greta Garbo

VISUAL ARTS SECTION, dedicated to M. C. Escher

EDUCATION SECTION, dedicated to André Gide

SPECIAL EVENTS SECTION, dedicated to Giovanni Boccaccio

Every year the Ravello Festival features what they term a Wagnerian Leitmotiv, which serves as the overall theme for the summer. This year’s theme is Il Coraggio, or Courage, which I find a timely and appropriate choice. Last year the theme was Diversity, and it seems the organizers of the festival had a relationship between the two in mind. Here is a description from the Ravello Festival website:

Courage is the mirror image of fear. Fear of the enemy, of diversity, of what is difficult, complex, unknown: courage is needed to defeat the enemy, to accept diversity, to tame what is difficult, unravel what is complex, decipher what is unknown. Like fear, courage is a feeling which is bound up with the time and place in which it manifests itself.

If you plan on visiting the Amalfi Coast this summer, be sure to check out what is happening in Ravello. This year the festival runs from June 26th – September 27th, and you can find the provisional schedule here in PDF form. Come celebrate the arts on the Amalfi Coast!