A voice of Italian music linked to Varazze
Francesco Cilea (1866–1950) was one of the most refined composers on the Italian music scene between the 19th and 20th centuries. A composer, conductor, and man of culture, he is remembered for his operas, rich in melodic sensitivity and poetic depth. Varazze was more than just a place for him: it was his home, his creative refuge, the landscape of his soul. He lived here for many years and is still buried here today.
Life and career between the stage and musical thought.
Born in Palmi, Calabria, Cilea showed extraordinary musical talent from a very young age. He studied at the Conservatory of Naples, where he trained alongside important figures of his time. His success came with operas such as L'Arlesiana and, above all, Adriana Lecouvreur (1902), which is still performed today in major theaters around the world.
He was also director of the Naples Conservatory and an influential figure in the promotion of Italian music. His writing, always attentive to melody and the inner lives of his characters, is distinguished by its elegance and emotional intensity.
Varazze, a place of the soul.
In the 1930s, Francesco Cilea chose Varazze as his permanent residence. He was looking for a place where he could find peace, concentration, and harmony. He wrote that here “you can hear the sea as you would hear an orchestra”: a perfect image of his relationship with the city and its soundscape.
Varazze was not only a place of rest: Cilea meditated on music, reread his works, cultivated relationships with young artists, and continued to contribute to Italian musical thought even in difficult years. The community welcomed him with genuine affection. When he died in 1950, he was buried in the town's monumental cemetery. The monument dedicated to him on the seafront looks out over the sea with discretion and grace, just like his music.
Oltremare: a memory that looks to the future.
To preserve and reinterpret Cilea's legacy, Varazze has launched the cultural project Oltremare, a festival that combines music, performing arts, and new visions. More than a commemoration, Oltremare is a laboratory of creativity: it involves musicians, actors, composers, and scholars, inspired by the spirit of the Maestro.
The project explores the relationship between art and landscape, silence and melody, past and present, making Cilea part of the city's cultural life and accessible to new generations.
The musical legacy of an essential composer
Cilea was part of the generation that, after Verdi, sought new languages without breaking the link with the Italian opera tradition. His style is made up of pure melody, introspection, and fluid vocal writing, capable of capturing psychological nuances with rare delicacy. Despite his limited number of works, his contribution to music was decisive. It was not quantity that made him great, but consistency, elegance, and the discreet poetic force that runs through all his work.
