Accademia dei Rozzi

15 luglio - accademia rozzi

One of the historic Sienese academies that has been promoting theatre, music and culture in Siena since the 16th century.

‘Those who stay here acquire what they lose’ – Academy motto

Strolling from Via Banchi di Sopra towards Via di Città, at the height of the so-called ‘Croce del Travaglio’, just beyond the imposing and ornate Loggia della Mercanzia, we come across the 16th-century Palace that houses the Accademia dei Rozzi, one of the city’s most prestigious cultural institutions.

The Academy was founded in the 16th centurywhen Siena was going through a particularly glorious period from a cultural point of view. In its public ‘Studio’ (later to be called the University) students arrived not only from all over Italy, but also from Germany, Spain and Portugal, and great literary men and scholars of law, medicine, philosophy and literature taught there.

It was a time of general cultural awakening after of the Middle Ages. Not only the cultured and intellectuals participated, but the Sienese working class also began to compose elegies, rustic comedies, farces and compositions that were not scholarly but ‘rozzi’, meaning ‘crude’, and they were then recited in public squares to entertain and amuse the people, especially during Carnivals.

The warm reception that the ‘rozzi’ and their compositions led to an increase in numbers, until October 1531 when they decided to form a group and adopted the motto ‘Those who stay here acquire what they lose’This was to say that those who joined the group took on the title of ‘Rozzo’ but lost all traces of ignorance by joining. Transformed into an Academy in 1691, it became one of Siena’s most prestigious cultural institutions, especially during the 19th century. Activities related to theatre, music and culture still take place here.

Where: Via di Città 36
Tel: 0577 271466
Website: www.accademiadeirozzi.it

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