The Badia di Camaiore is mentioned for the first time in a parchment of 761 during the period of the Lombard domination when Lucca was the capital of Tuscany. The foundation of the abbey by the Benedictine monks then goes back at least to the eighth century. In the following centuries, the abbey became an important complex which consisted of the church, the bell tower, the arc, the cemetery and of a monastery surrounded by crenellated walls.
The organ was built by the manufacturer Mascioni with artistic advice of Lorenzo Ghielmi, a specialist in Baroque organ and baroque organ literature. In 1995 the attention of the national and international organ and music panorama and the awareness of the City of Camaiore to own such an important instrument originated the Organ Festival Town of Camaiore in the charming and suggestive church of Badia.
The festival involves authors and musicologists of Italian and international fame. Most of the concerts will be held at the church of Badia, but this year the artists will also perform in other town churches and in the parish church of the village Casoli.
The program
Satruday, August 6
Church Badia – Concert by Christian Bacheley (France).
Friday, August 12
Church Badia – Concert by Ignace Michiels (Belgium).
Friday, August 19
Church Badia – Concert by Christian Vorbeck (Germany).
Wednesday, August 24
Church Badia – Concert by Thomas Lennartz (Germany).
Monday August 29
Church Badia – Concert by Inge Beck (Denmark).
ORGAN FESTIVAL TOWN OF CAMAIORE
Camaiore, various locations
July 11 – August 29 at 9:15 pm
admission € 5,00, (*) free admission