A Real Triumph

As reported in Music & Vision on 3 August 2010, Macerata lies quietly on the 'Marche' green hills. It is a dot on the map of Italy -- a total population of forty-five-thousand in a province of some one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand -- but it has a long history. The University of Macerata is the third most ancient in the world (after those of Paris and Bologna). In 1797, the town made a strong impression on Napoleon Bonaparte who wrote to his wife about its beauty and elegance. It used to be very wealthy: agriculture, textiles and large assets owned by religious congregations as shown by very well-preserved eighteenth and nineteenth century city centre...