The Conservatorio Guido Cantelli (in full: I.S.S.M. Conservatorio Guido Cantelli di Novara) is a college of music in

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The college opened in 1766, and was established in a building built in the 1700s. It became Novara's conservatory in 1996, and it was named after Novara's great conductor Guido Cantelli. The Conservatorio Cantelli hosts the music festival "Festival Fiati", which in 2019 celebrated its 16th edition.

History

The building originally built in the 1700s was once known as the ''casone'' or ''ospedale degli spagnoli''. The building served as a hospital and then it became a boarding school. The Gallarini family (Francesco Antonio and his father Antonio Maria) founded an institution to help teach young people in the region. Antonio Maria disposed in his will that after his death a "perpetual" college be established in Sillavengo. The executor found it difficult to do so in such a place, and instead chose

. However, to make such a change, they needed a special authorization. To obtain the necessary derogation to switch the place where the college was to be created the executor, Francesco Antonio Gallarini, who was also the son of Gallarini, as well as a priest, wrote a letter to

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV (; ; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Benedict X (1058–1059) is now con ...

. In 1755, the Pope gave his assent. In 1766 the bishop Aurelio Balbis Bertone gave the ''casone''―the building of the present-day conservatorio―to Gallarini. The building was restored the same year. Between 1831 and 1855 the palace was restored again. The colored tiles, architectural elements such as balconies, aedicules with statuettes, spire pinnacles, and the terracotta decorations on the facade were added between 1854 and 1905 by the rector Ercole Marietti, who dabbled in architecture. In 1880 a dormitory was built (which today is the conservatorio's auditorium). During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the college was used as a military hospital, while in 1945 it was used by the partisans. The building suffered a period of decay, but then it was renovated between 1982 and 1986.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Website of Conservatorio Guido Cantelli di Novara
Music schools in Italy 1996 establishments in Italy Educational institutions established in 1996 Novara

History

See also

References

External links