Events

Hotel reservation

1. Rimini Workshop Gala Concert conducted by P. Phillips

Saturday 28 August 2010 at 9:00pm at the Church of St. Giovanni

The church of San Giovanni Battista, situated in Via XX Settembre a few steps from the Augustus Arch in the direction of Riccione, is one of the most important Churches of Rimini for size and artistic richness. The current building, built in 1625 and subsequently modified in the second half of 1700, is located in the place where, in ancient times, there was the early Christian Basilica of Santo Stefano, dating from the fifth century until the VIII, probably a work of Galla Placidia. From 1573 to July 1797 The Church was owned by the Carmelites, under which the building was rebuilt in 1625 and renovated in 1772 by Gaetano Copioli. In 1797 the Carmelites were abolished and then The Church became the seat of the Capuchins Friars remaining there until 1805. From that date the Church is also a Parish.

2. Concert in San Leo

Friday 27 August 2010 at 18:00

This year, because of our organizational efforts we will be able to sing inside the astonishing Cathedral (Duomo) of San Leo. Come the workshop to live this unforgettable experience! The fortress of San Leo (nearly 600 feet high) overlooks the valley of river Marecchia and a landscape of woods, rocky peaks and ravines, which slopes to the sea. Below, the small village, a secluded place, yet paved in stone and surrounded by a relaxing atmosphere. The hills are dotted with small villages that light up the dark, narrow streets full of people, away from the nightlife of the Riviera of Romagna. The tour begins from the Parish Church, the more ancient building in the village, that is considered the heart of the medieval city. The church was probably built during the Carolingian period (between VIII and X century) around the original cell where San Leone retreated into prayer, and renovated in Romanesque times with stone ashlars. The interior has a basilican plan with a nave and two aisles separated by pillars and columns made of recycled materials from the Roman period; you can admire a ciborium dating back from the ninth century. The cathedral consecrated to the worship of San Leone was erected in the same period, just beside the parish church; this was completely renovated in the Romanesque-Lombard style, as you can admire today, in the 1173 (the date is carved on the pillar of the nave) and combined with the massive bell tower, probably of Byzantine origins. Made of sandstone, the cathedral like the nearby church recycles elements of Roman times (two columns and capitals). The central apse of the chancel houses a crucifix dating back from the thirteenth century, while in the crypt the columns have Byzantine capitals. The parish church together with the cathedral and the tower are the Romanesque heart of the village; the civil buildings are in Piazza Dante Alighieri: Palazzo della Rovere, the residence of the Counts of Montefeltro dukes of Urbino, today the town hall, Palazzo Nardini (XIII-XVI century) where San Francesco was guested in 1213 and Palazzo Medici, built by the Della Rovere family and refurbished by the Medici family (1517-21). The primitive centre of the village, built during the early Middle Ages, was the place where Berengarius, king of Italy, was besieged by Otto I of Germany between the 961 and the 963; this first nucleus was enlarged when Malatesta family managed to steal San Leo from Montefeltro family (XIII-XIV century). The medieval stronghold, defended by square towers, was completely redesigned by the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini from Siena, thanks to Federico da Montefeltro’s will, in 1479. The architect projected the double curtain joining the circular towers and the defensive wall, under which a casemate was placed. This form allowed to defend the village from the enemies, no matter where the attack came from. The fort was the protagonist of important war events during the Renaissance, which made the village achieved the fame of impregnable fortress. With the devolution of the duchy of Urbino to the Papal States (1631), the fortress lost its military purpose and was converted into a prison. The papal government commissioned the architect Giuseppe Valadier to renovate the complex and make the necessary improvements because this was very unhealthy (1788). Many antipapal patriots were imprisoned here, and also the Count Cagliostro, one of the most enigmatic adventurers of the age of Enlightenment, was jailed here from the 1791 until his death in 1795. Two kilometers away from the town is the monastery of Sant'Igne, probably founded by San Francesco (XIII century); the little church houses a fresco depicting an Enthroned Madonna and Child with Saints (1535) and a piece of the elm tree under which the saint preached.

All the participants will meet in Rimini, front of the Church of San Giovanni, Friday 27 August 2010 at 14:30. The trip, by coach, will take about 1 hour. We will visit the Fortress and some more places in San Leo. We will come back to Rimini within the 21:00. The travel cost of 20 Euros, will be paid on board.

Download the brochure of San Leo (free)

3. Sung Service at the Rimini Cathedral

Sunday 29 August 2010 at 11:00

The Sung Service at the Rimini Cathedral is the final but one of the most intensive moment of the Workshop. In fact, not always one can realize to be inside the most beautiful and perfect example of the Italian Sacred Renaissance. The Tempio Malatestiano is the cathedral church of Rimini. Officially entitled to St. Francis, it takes the popular name from Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who commissioned its reconstruction from the famous Renaissance theorist and architect Leon Battista Alberti c. 1450. San Francesco was originally a thirteenth-century Gothic church belonging to the Franciscans. The original church had a rectangular plan, without side chapels, with a single nave ending with three apses. The central one was probably frescoed by Giotto, to whom is also attributed the crucifix now housed in the second right chapel. Malatesta called on Alberti, as his first ecclesistical architectural work, to transform the building and make it into a kind of personal mausoleum for him and his lover and later his wife, Isotta degli Atti. The execution of the project was handed over to the Veronese Matteo de' Pasti (died 1486), hired at the Estense court. Of Alberti's project, the dome that appears in Matteo's foundation medal of 1450— similar to that of the Pantheon of Rome and intended to be among the largest in Italy— was never built. Also the upper part of the façade, which was supposed to include a gable end, was never finished, though it had risen to a considerable height by the winter of 1454, as Malatesta's fortunes declined steeply after his excommunication in 1460 and the structure remained as we see it, with its unexecuted east end, at his death in 1466. The two blind arcades at the side of the entrance arch were to house the sarcophagi of Sigismondo Pandolfo and Isotta, which instead are now in the interior.

The meeting point for the participants will be on Sunday 29 August at 9:45 directly at the Cathedral where, before the Mass, Ghislaine will lead a short workshop and Peter an acoustic rehearsal. After the Service it is usual to take some pictures and say goodbye outside of the Church.