Marco Scacchi Early Music Festival

A festival born around a forgotten composer

The Marco Scacchi Early Music Festival is the most iconic cultural event in Gallese, a small village in the province of Viterbo, in northern Lazio. The festival is named after Marco Scacchi, a 17th-century musician from Gallese who served as chapel master to the kings of Poland and was a key figure in the great theoretical debates of the 1600s regarding the 'ancient' and 'modern' styles. Bringing his music back to his birthplace has been the festival's mission for over twenty years, reaching its twenty-third edition in 2025.

When it takes place

The event is traditionally held in the second half of October and is concentrated over a few intense days, alternating musical performances with academic sessions featuring historians and musicologists specializing in the baroque repertoire. The exact dates are announced year by year by the Municipality of Gallese and the Museum's channels, usually a few weeks before the opening.

The venues: Church of Sant'Agostino and the Museum

Concerts are divided between two venues in the historic center, both within a few minutes' walk of each other:

• Church of Sant'Agostino — home to sacred programs and choral performances, with acoustics perfectly suited to 17th-century Roman polyphony.
• Marco Scacchi Museum and Cultural Center — housed in the 17th-century Santa Chiara monastery on Via Lorenzo Filippini, it hosts chamber concerts and in-depth discussions.

Beyond lending its name and home to the festival, the Museum preserves paintings, frescoes, ceramics, and machinery that tell the history of Gallese and the Faliscan territory from ancient times to the present day: a visit that naturally complements the concert program.

The music

The programming focuses on the early and baroque repertoire performed on historical instruments or according to philological practices: harpsichord, viola da gamba, viola d'amore, organ, and vocal ensembles. There is no shortage of musicological curiosities, such as the European premieres of Handel sonatas in unpublished transcriptions presented in the 2025 edition, and the rediscovery of works by Scacchi himself, including his Missa Quando Sperai. Alongside the great names of the European baroque — Bach, Handel, Benda — the festival features composers of the Roman school contemporary to Scacchi, such as Felice and Giovanni Francesco Anerio.

A growing cultural project

In recent years, the Municipality of Gallese has launched a comprehensive relaunch of the event, aiming to build new synergies across the Tuscia region and bring the Wanda Landowska International Harpsichord Competition back to Gallese, a competition for young harpsichordists that was suspended years ago. The artistic direction of the 2025 edition was entrusted to the harpsichordist and teacher Nijolė Dorotėja Beniušytė.

Why it's worth the trip

It is a festival intentionally tailored to the village scale: a few hundred seats, free admission, and an audience that blends early music enthusiasts arriving from Rome and Viterbo with local residents. Those seeking the intimate atmosphere of a baroque concert — where you can hear the breath of the strings and the pluck of the harpsichord — will find one of the most authentic experiences in Lazio, set in a historic center clustered around the Altemps castle and medieval walls.