Celebrate the Arts and More at the Tuscan Sun Festival

| Jul 27, 2011

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Ah, Tuscany. The region is known for its warmth, good food, and welcoming people. So it should be no surprise that the Tuscan Sun Festival takes all these qualities and adds the performing arts to create an intoxicating mix. This food, wine, and music festival takes place August 1-7 in Cortona, Italy.

A festival that celebrates not just the arts or Tuscany itself, the Tuscan Sun Festival embraces everything from fine arts to wine, food to wellness, as well as celebrating local culture and history. The festival was the creation of Barrett Wissman and cellist Nina Kotova who talked about gathering friends to make music and memories somewhere in the world. Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, suggested that Cortona would be the ideal location and a high-caliber arts festival was born in 2003. (A companion festival, Festival del Sole in Napa Valley, happens in every July.)

Don’t miss the special theatrical performance Seduction, Smoke and Music: The love story of Chopin and George Sand featuring Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack as they tell this gorgeous tale. Gala dinners, wine tasting, visual art exhibitions, literature, cooking demonstrations, and of course gorgeous concerts by the likes of artists like pianist Martha Argerich and violinist Michael Guttman make the Tuscan Sun Festival an experience not to be missed. Tickets are available by the event or in VIP packages online or by calling the ticket hotline.

Filed Under: Art • Festivals • Food & Wine • Music

About the Author: A teacher, traveler, student of languages, and wrangler of words, Bethany harbors a love of helping others find information and communicate it in the clearest way possible. She has taught English as a foreign language in France, Serbia, and the U.S., maintained records for archeological excavations in Greece and Turkey, proofread or edited almost every kind of document known to humankind. When not finding even more delicious food at the latest restaurant or reading in the sporadic San Francisco sunshine (an art to itself) she loves storytelling, biking, and bringing people together. She finds that conferences are often a concentrated milieu for finding interesting folks and is currently working on a MA in English Literature at SFSU.