“Return to the ancient and it will be progress,” said Giuseppe Verdi. The new course of the Piccolo Festival also started with this motto in 2013, precisely on the occasion of the bicentennial of the great composer’s birth. The ancient is all the extraordinary historical and architectural heritage that has become the absolute protagonist of our musical and touristic proposal in combination with the rich gastronomic tradition of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. A format that over the last four editions has been broken in and now presents itself as fully consolidated and able to open up to international audiences, especially Austrian and German audiences, traditionally fond of our land. The artistic proposal has also become more and more defined with gradually more original programs capable of satisfying enthusiasts, but also of intriguing newcomers. Opening with the first opera concert in the newly renovated, delightful and tiny little theater of Valvasone Castle, which as a “Bridal Village” could not fail to host a program dedicated to “Fairy Tale Loves.” The choice of the operatic title is intended to celebrate the bicentennial of the most beloved fairy tale in music: La Cenerentola. Composed by the genius of Rossini, to whom we also pay tribute in this edition with an unprecedented operatic show cooking with bistrelized chef Emanuele Scarello. A welcome return that of the ballet that from France builds a bridge between northern and southern Europe in the name of the myth of the water nymphs, the Ondine. From me, a welcome to our guests and a wish for truly fabulous evenings!