The Florence Opera – Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Music has always played a fundamental role in Florence. Today the centre of Florentine music is the Florence Opera House – the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino – which organises one of the oldest and most prestigious European festivals through the realisation of annual concert, opera and dance seasons of international calibre.

The stage of the Florence Opera House has played host to a succession of the greatest names in the music of the last century: conductors such as Vittorio Gui, Zubin Mehta, Herbert von Karajan and Riccardo Muti, Maria Callas, Pietro Mascagni and Richard Strauss, Paul Hindemith and Bela Bartòk, Igor Stravinskij and Luigi Dallapiccola, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio as interpreters of their own music.

The Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze traditionally participates in the activity of the Maggio Musicale, recognising it as the greatest opera institution in Tuscany.

Along with other institutions of national and international standing, it contributes to retaining the lofty image of Florence in Italy and all over the world.

Over time the Ente Cassa has contributed to the production of important musical and opera seasons featuring the participation of artists of international fame, concentrating in particular on one or two of the principal opera or music productions of each season with a contribution of around one million euro.

The new law on the art bonus, which schedules a tax credit of around 65% on the cash donations made by private entities to support public cultural institutions and sites, has also been extended to the support of operatic and symphonic foundations. It is therefore to be expected that this will also apply to the economic contributions made by the Ente Cassa to the Maggio Musicale, translating into a significant end-of-year saving on the disbursement made.

The support stems from the need and the expediency of sustaining and keeping alive a cultural reality of international fame, around which an important local economy gravitates. Over recent years the economic situation of the Foundation and the major deficit have made it increasingly difficult for the Ente Cassa too to offer decisive support for the cultural activities of the Opera House. Nevertheless, its contribution continues to be important for the staging of the opera and symphonic seasons.