Mirtense Music Week

A week of music in the heart of Sabina

The Mirtense Music Week is the festival that transforms Poggio Mirteto, a town in the Province of Rieti, Lazio, into a small open-air stage every July. For seven consecutive nights, Parco San Paolo, a green space just a short walk from the historic centre, hosts concerts ranging from classical and opera to jazz, rock, musical theatre, and singer-songwriter performances. In case of rain, the events move to the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, in the heart of the village.

Organisers

The event is promoted by the Amici del Museo Cultural Association of Poggio Mirteto, an organisation linked to the Ercole Nardi Civic Museum, in collaboration with the Municipality, the Pro Loco, and with the support of the Fondazione Varrone. The festival is part of the Estate Mirtense programme, which brings the town to life during the summer months. It is the only event in the local area dedicated to classical, modern, and contemporary music.

A deliberately varied programme

The formula, which has remained unchanged over the years, features a different theme each night: a brass ensemble, an opera evening with arias by Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, and Donizetti, a symphonic or chamber concert, a rock or progressive night, a swing appointment with a big band, and a musical theatre finale. Recent years have seen performances by the Orchestra delle Cento Città, pianist Cristiana Pegoraro, young artists from the 'Fabbrica' programme of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, and the Art & Jazz Big Band.

• Classical and symphonic music: Mozart, Haydn, chamber repertoire for viola and cello
• Opera: famous arias and highlights from Italian melodrama
• Brass and bands: musical fables and brass quintet concerts
• Rock, progressive, and swing: tributes to the sixties and seventies, big bands
• Musical theatre: from Gershwin and Bernstein to contemporary musicals

The atmosphere

Parco San Paolo, with its open-air seating under the trees, gives the festival a familiar and informal character, far removed from the solemnity of concert halls. The audience consists largely of Sabina residents, as well as Romans with holiday homes in the area and passing visitors: Poggio Mirteto is just over an hour from the capital and is served by the railway. The symbolic ticket price and free entry for children make the Week an accessible listening experience for all.

What to see in Poggio Mirteto

Those arriving for the concerts can take the opportunity to visit the medieval historic centre enclosed by walls, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta with its bell tower, and the Ercole Nardi Civic Museum. All around lies Sabina, a land of ancient olive groves and DOP extra virgin olive oil, abbeys, and small villages overlooking the Tiber valley: one of the most authentic and least-travelled areas of Lazio.

Why attend

Because it is a festival that, with modest means, manages to offer a surprisingly broad musical panorama in just one week, featuring professional-level performers. And because listening to an opera aria or a big band in the open air, on a summer evening in Sabina, remains an experience difficult to replicate elsewhere.