Musical Soirées at the Villa Bardini: A beautiful, student-friendly treat for the senses.

Recently, I went to one of the Villa Bardini’s Aperitivi in Musica events. For €6 entry at 5.30pm on a weekday, I was not expecting the earth.

As it happens, the programme of music was exquisite, the technical ability of the players (Sara Cazzanelli on the clarinet and Federica Bortoluzzi on the piano, both of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole) was astounding. They played 3 fascinating pieces which all in all lasted under an hour: Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Debussy’s Prémière Rhapsodie and Poulenc’s Sonata. They were complex, ambitious pieces capabale of enthralling any classical music lover but accessible enough to soothe the fears of any less convinced audience members. The two players, both students in their twenties, had an astonishing rapport which enabled them to pull off the challenging works with incredible finesse.

The concert took place in a beautiful stucco-ed room in the Villa Bardini and the delicious aperitivo, complete with a few glasses of spumante, was served afterwards on a terrace overlooking the illuminated Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio (as you can see in the photo). The event finished by 7.30pm, leaving you the rest of the evening free to gloat about how cultured and sophisticated you are, before going and compensating elsewhere.

On concert nights, there is a guided tour at 4.30pm of the Villa Bardini’s current exhibition, “Il Rinascimento da Firenze a Parigi. Andata e Ritorno. I tesori del Museo Jacquemart Andrè tornano a casa. Botticelli, Donatello, Mantegna, Paolo Uccello.” (“The Renaissance from Florence to Paris. Return ticket. The treasures of the Jacquemart André Museum come home. Botticelli, Donatello, Mantegna, Paolo Uccello.”) The lovely formal garden, although at its prime in springtime and summer, is also worth a visit - entry is included in tickets to the Pitti Palace.

The Aperitivi in musica programme continues until mid-November with one more classical concert and a jazz night; the programme can be found at http://www.bardinipeyron.it/ab/cont__0_512.phtml#512.

- Sophia Dzwig, Intern at the BIF