Casa Menotti Centro di Documentazione del Festival dei Due Mondi, located in a 16th century building, was the home in Spoleto of composer Gian Carlo Menotti until he passed away in 2007.
Since 2011, under the guidance and the patronage of the Fondazione Monini, Casa Menotti has become available all year long, open to the public free of charge and suitable for different perspectives of visit and study. The building is dedicated to the whole history of the Festival, to Gian Carlo Menotti, and to the bond between the town of Spoleto and the international cultural context caused by the Festival.
Through a multimedia and interactive set-up, Casa Menotti presents the main themes of the Festival of the Two Worlds and to its founder, Maestro Gian Carlo Menotti. The visitor has the possibility to enjoy contents and documents, all with a high historical, cultural, and artistic value. The visitor can also interact with them following a path throughout the various floors of the house.
The visitor can relive the environment of the Festival, through the use of theater scenic designs readapted in high tech and multimedia: music, dance, theater, stage settings, international life, known faces, pictures of timeless emotions, selected and collected in an interactive path.
Casa Menotti also presents a continuous musical activity throughout the year.
In particular, every summer since 2012 “Musica da Casa Menotti” presents concerts during the Festival period under the guidance of the President of the Fondazione Monini Maria Flora Monini and the Artistic Director Federico Mattia Papi, thanks to the grants of the Fondazione Monini, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Spoleto, and the fundraising community of patrons.
“Musica da Casa Menotti” is intended to present a concert format that was particularly dear to Maestro Menotti: mostly performed by young musicians, the numerous concerts are intimate, for a few lucky spectators, free and open to the public. Some of the most talented young European musicians perform, thanks to the partnerships with prestigious European conservatories, such as the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Paris.
Quartets requiring residency in Casa Menotti will be hosted in the Mahler & Lewitt Studios.
The Mahler & Lewitt Studios creates residency programmes and special projects for writers and artists, of all disciplines, from across the world. Founded in Spoleto, a crossroads of international history and culture, the residencies are based around the former studios of Anna Mahler and Sol Lewitt, as well as the Torre Bonomo. The programme provides opportunities for residents to develop new artistic possibilities, in dialogue with peers and the unique cultural heritage of the Umbrian region.
