Italian Choral Programme - Arezzo

30th July 2025 | Written by Nina (Alto 2)

Ciao from Alto 2 and embattled vegan Nina, writing from the train on her way up to grandparents in Copenhagen. Interrailing is truly the best way to travel through Europe!

The final stop on our whirlwind tour took us back down to Tuscany. Now experts in the interrail bella vita, we caught the 9.27am train from Venice, changed seamlessly at Florence (with 15 minutes to purchase an array of focaccias and/or Five Guys), caught a bus up the hill in Arezzo then scaled 4-8 flights of stairs to check into our accommodation. Bravi.

After a brief rest, we headed out again, clambering up a very steep hill to the Pieve di Santa Maria for our rehearsal with Lorenzo Donati. This was an absolute pleasure and the precursor to Addamus and Vox Cordis’ joint concert that evening.

With a couple of hours before the concert, we scattered into the peaceful city of Arezzo. The birthplace of Petrarch, home to Guido d’Arezzo, father of Solfège, and more recently location for a number of Italian films including Benigni’s ‘Life is Beautiful’, Arezzo was an inspiring place to bring the tour to a close. With its winding streets, piazze and chiese with characterful medieval crests and traditional yellow-terracotta clad buildings with deep-green Venetian blinds, Arezzo blends effortlessly into the sun-kissed valley. Gazing out onto vineyards and olive groves from the Fortezza Medicea felt a lot like going back in time. Moreover, it’s clear that the Tuscan landscape survived Italy’s industrialisation relatively unscathed, the same of which which sadly cannot be said for much of the cement-beleaguered Po Valley and Ligurian coast.

Happily, agriculture and artisan production are still key to the economy and character of the Tuscan region; tasty and beautiful things were in no short supply in Arezzo’s alimentari and gioiellerie. After a rousing joint rendition of Donati’s own Super flumina to conclude the concert, our final dinner of the tour offered the chance to sample antipasti toscani and rigatoni del salumiere (salami substituted for a fresh tomato sauce and mozzarella for the vegetarians) along with local wines. Dinners together have been a highlight throughout the tour, and this one was memorably rounded off with speeches by Caius, Kahlan and James. It’s quite amazing what they managed to pull off, taking a chance on a scratch choir and taking us all along on a journey that was so rich in so many ways. Che privilegio. Grazie mille.

Nina (Alto 2)