A Baroque Summer in Italy (2/2)

Total Baroque Magazine invites you to hit the road and discover the cities and historic venues that will host concerts and operas this summer! Festivals of all sizes, offering the chance to meet the people who keep early music alive in Italy. Another way to travel, guided by music.

Florence: Humanism and so much more

The month of September offers several opportunities to enjoy music in the cities of art. Florence will host the ninth edition of the Festival Rinascimento Musicale Fiorentino FloReMus, led by Fabio Lombardo, opening on Saturday, September 6, 2025, with a concert dedicated to Francesco Landini, performed by the ensemble La Reverdie at the Auditorium of Sant’Apollonia. The music of the most prominent representative of Italian Ars Nova will be introduced through the poetic and literary atmosphere of the Paradiso degli Alberti, the title of the late Gothic novellas by Giovanni Gherardi, which recount stories and discussions taking place in the garden of the noble Florentine family’s villa. The following morning, from the church of Santa Maria e Santa Brigida al Paradiso, visitors will be able to explore the sites where Gherardi set the dialogues of a brigade composed of illustrious figures from the artistic, philosophical, and political life of the late 14th century, accompanied once again by La Reverdie. 

Other concerts and talks will highlight this humanist openness for which music played a significant role. In the Medici Riccardi Palace, amidst frescoes and carved bookshelves housing a historic collection of precious volumes, the ensemble L’Homme Armé will discuss two important manuscript chansonniers stored at the Riccardiana Library and at the National Central Library of Florence. On this occasion, Francesco Zimei will present an important illuminated codex of laude, recently restored, part of which will be performed by L’Homme Armé. 

The FloReMus programme also includes short afternoon concerts in various venues around the city, performed by young ensembles, as well as talks on themes exploring the relationships between music and the culture of the period, held in the charming Biblioteca delle Oblate, just steps from Santa Maria del Fiore. For the evening concerts, Cappella Pratensis will perform Guillaume Dufay’s Missa Ecce ancilla Domini, and with works by Palestrina and others, the ensemble L’Homme Armé under the direction of Fabio Lombardo will close the festival on September 25 at the inspiring Cenacolo di Fuligno Museum, home to a splendid late 15th-century fresco of the Last Supper by Pietro Perugino.

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