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MACERATA AND LE MARCHE Coming to study in Italy offers a unique cultural experience for students from all over the world and Macerata, on the eastern side of Central Italy, has much to offer. It is a medium-sized town (45,000 inhabitants) standing in the Province of Macerata, which in turn lies in the Region of the Le Marche or The Marches, an area of great natural beauty stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the Sibillini mountains, the highest massif in this part of the Appenines. Macerata itself is situated in the rolling foothills mid-way between the sea and the mountains (a 30 minute drive either way) so the visitor can have the best of both worlds. There are 170 kms of beaches which attract sun-worshippers in the summer and there are also facilities for skiing in the mountains, global-warming permitting. For those interested in hiking, mountain biking or hang-gliding, the Sibillini National Park has these activities to offer in Spring, Summer and Autumn. Whereas for the botanically-minded ‘la fioritura’ (the flowering) in May/June, when the mountain pastures are carpeted with flowers of many different species, is not to be missed. The caves of Frasassi, among the most impressive in Europe are also well worth seeing. Le Marche as an area can boast of its artistic-cultural heritage. When you leave the coastal plain and climb into the hills you find many of them are crowned with picturesque medieval walled towns, of which Macerata is one. Despite the bustle of modern life these towns retain in their tortuous narrow cobbled streets and their attractive piazzas the feel of their historical past. Although they are perhaps not so well-known outside Italy as towns like Florence or Pisa they are attractive and interesting in their own right and hide many an artistic and architectural treasure. In fact many well-known artists came from this area. Urbino was the birthplace of Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) and in the splendid Ducal Palace which dominates the town, some of his paintings can be found as well as those by Piero della Francesca. Recanati was home to Giacomo Leopardi the poet and Beniamino Gigli the opera singer; in San Severino there are paintings by Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni and the Venetian Crivelli brothers worked in the Marche for several years enriching towns like Sarnano, Fermo, Monte San Martino and others with their paintings. A fine collection of the paintings of Lorenzo Lotto can be seen in the Museum in Loreto. Macerata will not disappoint opera-lovers either as it has its own opera season every summer which rivals that of Verona. The operas are staged outdoors in the Arena Sferisterio and attract many foreign visitors. For theatre-goers Macerata, like so many other hill-towns, has its own theatre, Teatro Lauro Rossi, and the theatre season runs from Autumn to Spring. In the summer there is the chance to see Greek and Roman plays performed in the remains of the ancient Roman ‘circus arena’ at Urbisaglia, a few kilometres from Macerata or in the Roman theatre in Falerone, in the nearby province of Ascoli Piceno. The people of the Marche (Marchigiani) are very proud of their traditions and there are many festivals and colourful historical pageants in the little towns during the summer months. Ascoli Piceno can boast of its Quintana held in its beautiful main square, Treia holds the Disfida del Bracciale each year and Camerino organises the Corso alla Spada to name but a few. Italian cooking is renowned and the regional cooking of the Marche is extremely good. There are good local wines and liqueurs, all reasonably priced. Within the town of Macerata and in the surrounding area there are many restaurants, pizzerias, tavernas and pubs. There are also discos, some of which are near the town centre so getting home is not a problem as you don’t need transport. During the year there are also many concerts catering for all tastes, from rock, pop, jazz to classical music. There are often parties organised for exchange students to help them settle in and get to know people. For difficulties or questions the always busy International Office (Centro per i Rapporti Internazionali) will be glad to help foreign guests. Some more information taken by the Regional web-site Known across the world for its annual open-air opera festival, Macerata is a human-scaled provincial capital that also warrants a visit for its other charms. Its open-air opera festival in July has found an international following and takes place in the 7,000-seater Sferisterio - a monster of a Neoclassical arena erected by private subscription in the 1820's. As you swoon to a Verdi aria, you might care to know that it was originally built as a stadium for pallone, or Italian football. The centre has a measured dignity fitting the place's solid, if unostentatious wealth. Its centre was almost entirely built between the 16th and 19thC. The Renaissance two-tiered arcades of the Loggia dei Mercanti on central Piazza della Liberta' is the most striking piece of architecture. The best of the city's palaces line Corso Matteotti, the road that leaves the square at the side of the Loggia, while Corso della Repubblica will take you to Piazza Vittorio Veneto and the civic gallery and museum. Here is a mixed bag of works by Umbro-marchigiani painters - most important is Carlo Crivelli's Madonna and Child. If you have time, you might examine the fine carriages in the Museo delle Carrozze or brush up your modern Italian history in one of the country's best museums dedicated to the Unification of Italy and wartime resistance - you'll find them in the same palazzo as the pictures. Just north of the town, by the river at Villa Potenza, lies ancient Helvia Ricina. When the Visigoths destroyed this Roman settlement in the 5th-6th century, its inhabitants moved up to safer ground and founded Macerata. Remains of the old city can still be seen, including the large amphitheatre, which stands just by the junction with the SS571, as well as a stretch of stone- paved roadway. A few kilometres to the south of the city lies another outstanding monument. The Romanesque church of San Claudio al Chienti is one of the region's earliest and most important churches. Its shape, quite unlike any other church in the Marche, is the first thing to strike you - it is in fact two churches, built one above the other, with separate entrances and flanked by two cylindrical towers. Built between the 5th and 7th centuries, probably on top of the ruins of a villa which formed part of the Roman city of Pausulae, it was constructed using material from the ancient ruins. Its present shape dates from the 11th and 12th centuries. Inside, both the upper and lower churches are square in form, and supported on four solid central pillars. 42nd Macerata Open-Air Opera Festival Macerata Sferisterio 28 July to 13 August, 2006 28 July, 4, 11 August Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) German opera in two acts KV 620 Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 29 July, 2, 5, 10, 13 August Aida opera in four acts Libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni Music by Giuseppe Verdi 30 July, 3, 6, 9, 12 August Turandot dramma lirico in tre atti e cinque quadri Libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni Music by Giacomo Puccini Telephone +39 0733 230735 Fax +39 0733 261570 home page: www.sferisterio.it 23-24-25 June Musicultura Festival, Macerata Sferisterio THE UNIVERSITY OF MACERATA: A BRIEF HISTORY The first sign of the existence of a studium in Law in Macerata comes from 1290, yet documents assess that the administration of the town organized a campaign encouraging students to come during the XIII century. The University was officially founded by Pope Paul III on July 1, 1540: at that time there were only the faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine and Philosophy, organized along the lines of the University of Bologna. In 1564, our University adopted its own statute, each for a cathegory of students (divided into Law and Arts), independent of each other and autonomus. During the XIV century the University developed its fame especially through the large income of students from Spain and Germany and from the South of Italy. In 1773 Pope Clement XIV gave the library, the house of the Society of Jesus, the church of S.Giovanni and some inheritances to the University in order to increase its power and wealth in the area. During the Napoleonic period, the new organization of academic institutions suppressed our University and took all the income and goods Pope Clement had granted it, but in 1816 Pope Pius VII reinstated the University with all its old privileges, adding a sum of money each year from the State and the friary of the Barnabite Fathers (the current site of Law). The new organization confirmed the original four faculties and created sections of Physics, Natural History, Anatomy and Pathology, a Chemistry and Pharmacy laboratory and Botanical Gardens to which was annexed a section of Agronomy. The University obtained the title of «regia» at the birth of the Kingdom of Italy, and soon the faculties of Theology, Medicine and Philosophy were suppressed. The remaining Faculty of Law underwent serious financial problems, solved by some subsides from the Province, but also through the following creation of an association between the University, the Town Council and the Province in 1880. The 1901 law gave equal status to all the recognized Universities in the Kingdom, while in 1936 they was granted financial parity.