The ‘Napoleon of a musical era’ – that is how Gioachino Rossini was described, a man who shared an unbreakable, vital bond with his hometown. His brilliant and complex personality, which found its highest expression in music, still resonates in Pesaro today, so much so that the city was recognised as a UNESCO Creative City of Music in 2017.

Pesaro’s artistic and cultural offering, inspired by Rossini, continues to grow, as evidenced by the opening – scheduled for 2019 – of the Rossini National Museum, which will form part of the wider network of Rossini-related sites. Indeed, as you stroll through the historic centre, Rossini’s name and music are ever-present, yet unobtrusive.

The theatre of the same name is Pesaro’s most important, inaugurated by Rossini himself in 1818 with a performance of *La Gazza Ladra*, and it hosts the annual Rossini Opera Festival, one of the world’s most important opera festivals. Music is studied with dedication at the Gioachino Rossini Conservatoire, established at the express wish of the great composer, as evidenced by his bequest to the municipality.

Rossini’s career was a splendid crescendo, much like those that characterised his operas. But the highest peaks always have a valley, an origin: staying in the historic centre and strolling towards the sea, you come across the house where Rossini was born. Situated at number 34 on the street that now bears his name, the house appears unassuming from the outside, blending in amongst the others. But just as a seemingly ordinary man can harbour genius, so too, upon entering the house, one discovers a multimedia museum housing prints and engravings, portraits and autograph scores, along with a fortepiano on whose keys the maestro performed his great masterpieces.