1 Best Performing Art in Spoleto, Umbria and the Marches

In 1958, composer Gian Carlo Menotti chose Spoleto for the first Festival dei Due Mondi, a gathering of artists, performers, and musicians intending to bring together the "new" and "old" worlds of America and Europe. (The famed, corresponding festival in Charleston, South Carolina is no longer connected to this festival.) The annual event, held in late June and early July, is one of the most important cultural happenings in Europe, attracting big names in all branches of the arts, particularly music, opera, and theater.