Sant'Anna di Stazzema New Year's Concert

A concert that opens the year in the name of peace

The Sant'Anna di Stazzema New Year's Concert is a now-traditional event that, every January 1st, inaugurates the new year in the evocative Church of Sant'Anna, on the slopes of the Apuan Alps, in the Municipality of Stazzema, in the province of Lucca. The initiative is promoted by the Peace National Park, the institution that preserves and enhances this site, recognized by state law as a space for building policies of peace and dialogue.

A symbolic place of civil memory

Sant'Anna di Stazzema is no ordinary village: it is one of the most significant places in Italian history and civil conscience, the site of one of the most tragic massacres of the Second World War in August 1944. For this reason, the concert takes on a meaning that goes far beyond the musical aspect: music becomes a universal language to spread a message of hope, brotherhood, and peace, in continuity with the vocation of the Peace National Park.

A journey between sacred and opera

The program offers a refined journey through the great operatic and sacred tradition, alternating moments of intense spirituality with famous opera arias. The repertoire ranges from the great composers — from Bizet to Mascagni, from Franck to Leoncavallo, from Puccini to De Curtis — in a balance between devotional pieces and pages of Italian and French melodrama. The intimate setting of the church, suspended among the Apuan woods, provides acoustics and an atmosphere that make the listening experience particularly moving.

A tradition of the inland Versilia

Over the years, the event has featured various voices and ensembles, often in collaboration with local entities from the Versilia and Apuan areas. The New Year's Concert is now one of the most cherished events of the cultural winter in the province of Lucca and Tuscany, capable of attracting residents, visitors, and music lovers to Sant'Anna who wish to start the year in a place of memory and beauty.

How to experience it

The concert is held on the afternoon of January 1st and admission is free. Reaching Sant'Anna di Stazzema also means discovering the Historical Museum of the Resistance, the Ossuary Monument, and the park's trails, in an itinerary that combines music, nature, and memory in the heart of Tuscany.