A space at the service of the public to provide information about the world surrounding the figure of Paganini.

Collaboration with the Paganini Rooms of the Municipality of Genoa

In 2017, the inaugural event of the first Paganini Genoa Festival was the opening of the Paganini Rooms of Palazzo Tursi, where the ‘Cannone’ has been kept ever since the 20^th century. The Cannone is the Guarneri del Gesù created in 1743, left by Paganini in his will ‘to my city of birth, where it shall be kept perpetually’. Next to the Cannone, the violin that Jean Baptiste Villaume has created in Paris in 1934 and donated to Paganini, who gave it to Camillo Sivori just before dying, is on display.

Through the collection of materials consisting of documents and objects, thanks also to the generous contribution of private collectors, the initial content of the room where the Cannone is kept has been enriched: in a second room three guitars of the Paganini collection are on display: two Gennaro Fabricatore (Naples 1726) and an Ory-Koelliker (Paris 1797). A third room contains other historical objects, autograph letters and portaits of Paganini: here is the famous original painting that George Pattern made in London in 1832, considered by Paganini the most resembling reproduction, among the many created, of his figure.

In 2021 the Paganini Rooms have been enriched with a multimedia platform which was realized with the collaboration of the Friends of Paganini, and presents, in Italian and in English, information, images and recordins about the greatest violinist of all times. The contribution was given by Maria Rosa Moretti, Alberto Giordano, Clarissa Biscardi and Michele Trenti.

The Friends of Paganini organizes guided tours about the places related to Paganini’s life in the historical city centre of Genoa. In 2014 an itinerary with 12 stops, “La Genova di Paganini” (Paganini’s city of Genoa) has been created, which starts from the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace), where Paganini performed in front of King Carlo Felice and the Queen in 1827, and ends in front of the Villetta Di Negro (Di Negro Estate), where a bust of the violinist had been erected and then stolen overnight.

With the involvement of professional guides for the historical-architectural part and musicologists for the content about Paganini, the visits may cover either the entire itinerary or just selected stops, for a duration ranging from 1 up to 2.5 hours; the best seasons for such guided tours are spring and autumn - during the Paganini Genova Festival

Go to the website

On October 27, 2013, the anniversary of Paganini's birth, the monument in the San Biagio area, created by sculptor Franco Repetto, was inaugurated.

Niccolò Paganini spent long periods at a small house, belonging to his family, in  San Biagio, in the Polcevera Valley, above Bolzaneto. It’s assumed that part of the creation of the Caprices could have occurred in this retirement, where Paganini found focus to dedicate himself to studying and composing. After the death of the violinist the house went, with the whole inheritance, to the son Achille; during the 20^th century it changed ownership, however, the structure is remained the same to date.

The Friends of Paganini, in collaboration with the Municipality of Val Polcevera and with the financial help of a private individual, placed a monument nearby the house, which is accessible only via a track, about a hundred meters long, inaugurated on 27 October 2013, the birthday of Paganini.

The author of the monument is the sculptor, Franco Repetto, and it consist of a bronze bust and a slate and white marble base. The statue has been smelt at the Fonderia d’Arte Massimo Del Chiaro (Art Smeltery Massimo Del Chiaro) and was created at the laboratory of the marble worker Alessandro Giorgi.

At the base there’s a violin shaped slit: looking across it the house can be seen, which Paganini called affectionately “il casino di campagna” (the little country house).

Download Franco Repetto biography

‘CIV’s (Neighbourhood Associations) are associations of traders from the same district with the objective to cooperate and find synergic solutions to optimize the local business efficacy

Since 2018 the Paganini Genoa Festival has started to propose initiatives in the name of Paganini to the CIVs of the Historical City Centre of Genoa in order to involve the active urban network. The events take place mainly in the streets, in the alleys and small squares, attract a casual audience, sometimes looking for synergy of big events which bring tourists and citizens into the city

https://smart.comune.genova.it/node/8694

Among the initiatives undertaken by the Friends of Paganini, thanks to the personal efforts of the Honorary President Mr.Volpato, is the recovery of two among the most important archives about Paganini in the world: one is from Pietro Berri (1901 - 1979), also author of various works about the maestro of Genoa, another from Zdenek Vyborny (1919 - 1963), added by will of the heirs to the collections of the Municipality of Genoa. Today these materials of very high musicological interest of the two researchers are available at the Berio Library (Biblioteca Berio).

On 18 April 2012 at the Berio Civil Library Berio Roberto Iovino and Maria Rosa Moretti presented the work “The Paganini Archives of Pietro Berri and Zdenek Vyborny”, published by Stefano Termanini.

The book, edited by Maria Rosa Moretti, is the result of years of deeply detailed research of the editor and concludes the parable of the donation of the two Paganini archives, and allows to know their content, reordered thanks to a hard work with archiving.

Reading of the book allows us to also retrace the musicological pathway of the two researchers who, in the name of Paganini, quickly became penfriends and loyal collaborators. The fruit of their research, started in the first decade of the 20^th century, reveals even today facts and unpublished or little known documents; the material they collected, even though already partially available today, is one of the foundational basis for all researchers of Paganini.

The great violinist, renowned traveller, left important memories in numerous cities in Italy and abroad.

Among the go-to destinations, there were repeated visits to Parma, at the tomb of the musician and in the famous Villa Gaione, bought by Paganini in view of a professional activity at the service of the Grand Duchess Maria Luisa, which never become real.

Nice, the city where the violinist died on 27 May 1840, was the destination of a tour in 2014.

Until the start of the pandemic the Association organized tours for members and for enthusiasts to Prague (2018) and Berlin (2019), two of the most important stops of the tour of Paganini between 1828 and 1834.

In November 2019, the Association organized a travel to the Paganini Festival in Beijing and from 26 November to 3 December, with a group of 22 persons organized the attendance of four concerts and visits to the Great Wall.

There’re various projects ‘in progress’ for the near future, starting from a trip to Vienna, first stop of the great European tour of Paganini, invited by the prince Clemens von Metternich.

Ever since the beginning of its activity, the Association wanted to bring the music and figure of Paganini to the children and the youth at the schools in Genoa, so that they would know their fellow citizen so very much appreciated in the world. In the twenty years between 1999 and 2019 there were 80 meetings, most of them in double shifts, in the schools of each district of the city, with the involvement of important artists as well (between 2009 and 2010 ten meetings were assisted by the executions of the Cremona Quartet, whose first violinist, Cristiano Gualco, is the current Artistic Director of the Association). The format in use is a meeting divided generally into two parts: the first is about the music, with particular reference to the emergence and development of the instruments from the earlier ages until today, the second is about Paganini with slide shows and live performances. Some time is also reserved for the active participation of the students, who can take part in certain performances with simple percussion instruments or rhythmical hand clapping or singing – sometimes the kids who play an instrument can join the performers.

After the disastrous years of the pandemic (2020-2021) the events for schools have been managed by the Paganini Centre, which created new formats, also available digitally, addressed to children, kids and anyone from grade school to the university.

Please consult the website of the Paganini Centre of the Friends of Paganini in order to access to the most up to date information about the ongoing and planned events.

www.centropaganini.it