From 19 May to 4 October, Bologna Estate returns with a summer programme particularly rich in music, exceeding 500 projects on the bill, between Bologna and the metropolitan area, after two years of restrictions also for outdoor activities due to the pandemic emergency.
Contamination, interaction with nature and the landscape, and the involvement of local activities are the ingredients for a full valorisation of communities and territories that involves both the centre and the districts of the capital, as well as the other territories between the plains, the Apennines and the Imola district.
The first appointments
Among the initiatives starting on the first weekend is the first edition of Jazzocene, the States General of the National Federation of Italian Jazz, which proposes four days of meetings and concerts between the G. B Martini Conservatory and the city’s jazz clubs; Diverdeinverde, the historic and much-loved initiative to open many ‘secret gardens’ in the city and the metropolitan area, organised by the Villa Ghigi Foundation; the opening of one of the summer’s iconic venues at the Giardini Margherita with Le Serre d’estate; the historical re-enactment of the Gran Ballo dell’Unità d’Italia in Piazza Carducci and at Villa Aldini the performance Edipo Re (Oedipus the King) by the Archivio Zeta company, which after the success of 2021 returns to enliven until October one of the city’s most evocative locations, soon to undergo major redevelopment, with a calendar of shows, artistic residencies, readings and workshops in the name of Pier Paolo Pasolini, who filmed at Villa Aldini in 1975, as recalled by Deborah Imogen Beer’s photographic exhibition dedicated to ‘Salò’.
Music
In Bologna, a UNESCO Creative City of Music, many festivals bring hundreds of concerts with national and international guests to the local scene. The Parco Nord hosts Bologna Sonic Park from 4 June to 9 July, while NOVA Bologna opens in Dumbo on 8 June.
At the Caserme Rosse park, a rich programme thanks to the Oltre festival and the Sequoie music park. Added to this are the programmes of Bologna’s historic clubs with Covo Summer, the return of Botanique in the gardens of Via Filippo Re and at DLF Sunshine Superheroes in June and Tutto molto bello in September. Also back after a two-year stop is SunDonato, the event in Parker Lennon Park with live concerts in a variety of genres and styles, from indie rock to cumbia, from electronica to funk, from classical to afro beat for a garden that turns into a meeting place for cultures and languages, and the widespread activities in the area of the Orchestra Senzaspine. Also returning are Il salotto del jazz in Via Mascarella, Angelica, an international music festival and the Radio Bruno Estate show in Piazza VIII Agosto.
The cinema
Among the great confirmations, from 19 June the Cineteca di Bologna will once again turn on the big screen in Piazza Maggiore with the much-awaited Sotto le stelle del cinema programme. The historic event will be intertwined with the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival (25 June – 3 July), the 36th edition of which will return, after two years courageously in attendance, to its usual dates at the turn of June and early July.
A special evening in Piazza Maggiore will be dedicated to the Music Festival, thanks to Entroterre Festival, which will open its programme on Tuesday 21 June with the show Potentissima signora, dedicated to Laura Betti and Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Museums and libraries
The great exhibition dedicated to Lucio Dalla continues until 17 July at the Archaeological Museum, while for contemporary art enthusiasts MAMbo offers an extensive solo show by Sean Scully, on view from 22 June. Some of Bologna’s most popular events will return, with the cultural calendar organised in the Certosa Monumental Cemetery and the festival of unusual music (s)Nodi at the Music Museum. Also this year, the Parco della Zucca, in the space in front of the Museo per la Memoria di Ustica, will be the stage for the programme Attorno al Museo promoted to mark the 42nd anniversary of the massacre.
