SeicentoNovecento Festival

The SeicentoNovecento Festival

The SeicentoNovecento Festival is an early music series established in 1997 and curated by the Ensemble '900 Association, based in San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore. For over twenty years, the event has featured concerts performed on 17th and 18th-century period instruments, bringing to light often-forgotten Baroque and Renaissance repertoires. The artistic direction is led by Stefania Di Giuseppe, a harpsichordist and the project's driving force.

A traveling festival in Abruzzo

The hallmark of the series is its traveling nature: concerts move from town to town throughout the summer, from the heart of the Marsica region to the Pescara coast, choosing churches, basilicas, historic palaces, castles, and cloisters as their stage. Music thus intertwines with the discovery of the artistic heritage and landscapes of the Abruzzo National Parks, with a program that highlights the region's small villages and minor architectural gems.

The Anversa degli Abruzzi stop

Among the festival's historic stops is Anversa degli Abruzzi, a small town in the province of L'Aquila famous for its position at the entrance to the Gole del Sagittario and its connection to Gabriele d'Annunzio, who set his tragedy La fiaccola sotto il moggio here. The concert in Anversa is promoted by the Municipality of Anversa degli Abruzzi in collaboration with the WWF Gole del Sagittario Oasis and the Gabriele d'Annunzio Literary Park, finding its natural home in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, with its intimate acoustics and atmosphere.

Repertoire and performers

The program favors Baroque instrumental music—sonatas, trios, and compositions for violin and basso continuo—entrusted to performers specializing in historical performance practice. Baroque violins, recorders, harpsichord, and organ restore the authentic color of ancient sound to the audience in evenings that combine philological rigor with the pleasure of listening.

Why attend

• Early music concerts on period instruments in historic Abruzzo locations
• Evocative venue in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Anversa degli Abruzzi
• An itinerary combining music, heritage, and the nature of the Gole del Sagittario
• Free admission and summer evenings in the heart of the L'Aquila village

For lovers of classical music and those wishing to discover the Abruzzo hinterland away from the most crowded tourist circuits, the SeicentoNovecento Festival offers a rare experience: listening to Baroque music where it was born, among the stones of a mountain church, under the summer sky of Anversa.