Opera

Cuts to Italian music festivals, alarm over, but the issue of dwindling budgets remains

Resources reduced by 5% from the 2024 budget for events such as the Rossini Opera Festival and the Macerata Opera Festival

by Giuditta Giardini

25 April 2026

“Le Siège de Corinthe” del 2017, di cui quest’anno Livermore firmerà un nuovo allestimento. Foto di Amati Bacciardi. Cortesia Rossini Opera Festival.

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

5% across-the-board cuts at major music festivals
5% across-the-board cuts to other cultural events

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

As of 10 April, one of the most prestigious sectors of the national cultural scene, that of music festivals, experienced days of great uncertainty. What caused this turmoil was the decision by the Council of Ministers to proceed with a reduction in the budgets of all the ministries to finance the so-called fuels decree, i.e. Decree-Law No. 42, published in the Official Gazette on 3 April 2026. This is an urgent package of measures aimed at countering the rise in fuel prices and supporting Italian companies, in particular agricultural companies and those engaged in internationalisation processes.
After a few days, however, the situation receded thanks to the alarm of the President of ItaliaFestival Francesco Perrotta and a direct interlocution with the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli. It seems, therefore, that the cuts have been 'sterilised', as Giuli himself announced in a statement, published on the Ministry's website, ruling out further reductions.

“La scala di seta”, ripresa nel programma 2026. Foto di Amati Bacciardi. Cortesia Rossini Opera Festival.

5% across-the-board cuts to major music festivals

A situation that is anything but rosy remains in the background. The main issue concerns not only the last-minute reductions (of about 130,000 euro) to the big festivals, but also and above all the linear cuts of 5% applied - starting from the 2024 Financial Act - to the allocations provided for by law no. 238 of 20 December 2012. In the case of the Fondazione Rossini Opera Festival di Pesaro, this has already led to a progressive reduction of about 150 thousand euros over three years.
The decreases take place on the allocation of one million euro, as an extraordinary contribution, provided for by the aforementioned Law 238/2012, bearing Dispositions for the support and valorisation of Italian music and opera festivals and of Italian youth orchestras of absolute international prestige, for Fondazione Rossini Opera Festival, Fondazione Festival dei Due Mondi, Fondazione Ravenna Manifestazioni and Fondazione Festival Pucciniano Torre del Lago. In recent years, as mentioned above, this ceiling has progressively decreased by 5% on the previous year's total, reaching 857,375 euros.

As Michele Dall'Ongaro, president of the Rossini Opera Festival (ROF), explains: 'we are facing an extremely shrewd management of resources to maintain and defend the quality of the festival. The case of the ROF, which recently opened bookings for the summer season, is emblematic of the endangering of: "a cultural excellence with a strong international projection": around 65% of the audience comes from abroad. "Even in terms of media coverage," explains Dall'Ongaro, "the Festival has achieved significant results, with live radio broadcasts requested by more than 30 countries, a figure that places it at the top of the international scene, second only to institutions such as the Teatro alla Scala".

From the 2026 budget, the ROF proves to be more than capable of attracting sponsorships (amounting to 99,400 euro) and private investments (totalling 40,600 euro), to which must be added revenue from ticketing, pre-sales and other activities totalling 1,101,583 euro, which are added to the public budget of 5,511,984 euro.

The 47th edition of the ROF will open on 11 August 2026 with a new staging of 'Le Siège de Corinthe', directed by Carlo Rizzi and conducted by Davide Livermore. The programme also includes two historical revivals: "L'occasione fa il ladro", directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, and "La scala di seta", directed by Damiano Michieletto. Also returning is I "l viaggio a Reims" in the famous version by Emilio Sagi, interpreted by the students of the Accademia Rossiniana, who also star in the final concert dedicated to new talent. The ROF's strong internationalisation clashes today with increasingly limited resources. Despite this, President Dall'Ongaro is confident in the possibility of gradually recovering resources and returning to the original endowment by 2027.

“L’occasione fa il ladro”, ripresa nel programma 2026. Foto di Amati Bacciardi. Cortesia Rossini Opera Festival.

5% across-the-board cuts to other cultural events as well

Last 4 April the MiC notified bodies such as the Associazione Arena Sferisterio di Macerata of the application of a 5% cut on the total endowment established, in the case of the Sferisterio, by Law no. 142 of 24 September 2024 (Dispositions in favour of the Associazione Arena Sferisterio - Teatro di tradizione, for the organisation of the Macerata Opera Festival), which recalls and integrates art. 2, paragraph 1, of the aforementioned Law 238/2012. The contribution, amounting to 400,000 euro, envisaged for the Macerata Opera Festival (MOF), decreased, after only two years, to 380,000 euro, as confirmed by Ministerial Decree 24 of 21 January 2026 on the allocation of resources for the year 2026.

Arena Sferisterio, foto di Alfredo Tabocchini, cortesia del Macerata Opera Festival.

Cultural events such as the MOF would also have been subject to a further planned cut of approximately 57,000 euro if the funding of the excise decree had been confirmed. A drastic reduction, concentrated in the space of a single month, which would have led to an overall contraction of close to a third of the initial allocation.
Also in the case of the MOF, the announcement of the cuts comes on the doorstep of an important opera season with a new production of 'Nabucco' scheduled, directed by Paul-Émile Fourny and conducted by Fabrizio Maria Carminati (from 17 July), followed by the filming of "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", directed by Daniele Menghini (from the 18th) and "Il Trovatore", signed by Francisco Negrin (from the 19th), with international casts and young talent. On 7 August, 'Carmina Burana' is scheduled. The 62nd edition of the Festival combines tradition and contemporary languages, addressing an increasingly younger audience also through the popular pathway Sferisterio Scuola 2026.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia di Rossini al MOF, foto di Luna Simoncini, cortesia del Macerata Opera Festival.

The Arena Sferisterio Association represents a virtuous example of a music festival capable of attracting public and private investment. From a starting public endowment of €3,310,808, including €380,000 from Art Bonus (D.L. 31 May 2014, no. 83), the Arena Sferisterio Association manages to raise €305,000 from sponsorships, €1,400,000 from the ticket office and €75,000 from other activities, for a total amount of €4,785,808.

After the stop imposed by the pandemic, the return of audiences - particularly international ones - confirmed the centrality of medium and large music festivals in Italia's cultural positioning. For this very reason, stable resources remain an essential condition: not only to preserve artistic quality, but also to support a sector that is a strategic asset for the country's image and cultural economy.