The home-town pride that sparks off many of the food festivals also expresses itself in some of the arts festivals spread across Italy, particularly in the central part of the country - based in ancient amphitheatres or other ruins or marking the work of a native composer, and sometimes going on for as long as a month. Perhaps the most prestigious is the Venice film festival in August and September. Spoleto 's summer Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) is also well known, a two-month-long event of classical concerts, films, ballet, street theatre and performance art, with its venue the open spaces of the ancient walled town, that is the biggest arts festival in the country nowadays.

The Sferisterio in Macerata in Marche and the Roman arena in Verona are two equally dramatic places to hear music in the summer months. Similarly there's the Panatenee Pompeiane music festival, held in the ruins of Pompeii during the last week of August. Bologna 's summer festival often tries something different, with live bands playing in its medieval palace courtyards and screenings of soap opera or art movies in unexpected places.

Other festivals remember a particular composer: Puccini's music is celebrated from the end of July to mid-August in Torre del Lago, near Viareggio , Rossini's in Pésaro from mid-August to September. And it's worth noting the dates of the Italian opera season , which begins in December and runs through until May or June. The principal opera houses are La Scala in Milan, the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, La Fenice in Venice (currently closed after fire, but there is a temporary replacement), the Teatro Comunale in Florence and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. But there are also other, more modest venues that have regular performances of opera throughout these months.

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