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02.06.2021

2 June is the Italian Republic Day, which Tsarskoe Selo is commemorating today with Italian classical music playing on speakers in the Maids-of-Honour Garden of the Catherine Park.

Rastrelli, Quarenghi, Rinaldi, Rusca and Dagnini were among the famous Italian architects who worked at Tsarskoe Selo and made it the masterpiece we know now.

The love of Italy and its ancient heritage inspired the Scottish architect Charles Cameron to build for Empress Catherine the Great a "Graeco-Roman rhapsody" in the park and design Pompeii-style interiors in the palace and pavilions. 

Also inspired by Italy, in the 19th century the architect Alexander Vidov created the Catherine Park's "most Italian" Private Garden, with a luxurious Roman-style fountain of Carrara marble and a shady pergola, an Italian-style veranda entwined with grapevines.

The Italian architecture at Tsarskoe Selo was complemented with music by many Italian musicians, conductors, composers and opera singers who came to perform here, such as the famous conductor Willy Ferrero or the harpist Virginia Ciarlone. The operas often performed at Tsarskoe Selo were those by Giovanni Paisello, Domenico Cimarosa, Giuseppe Sarti, Gaetano Donizetti and Giuseppe Verdi.