Ravello, an enchanting town lying on the crystal-clear sea of Amalfi Coast, houses, every Summer,  the Ravello Festival, the second oldest festival in Italy after the  Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence.
A hundred days in touch with art: concerts, meetings, musical dates not to be missed which animate one of the most beautiful natural locations in the Mediterranean, a longed-for tourist destination privileged by important personalities such as heads of state and men of letters. A cradle of art, Ravello becomes a stage of numerous shows, the most suggestive places of the beautiful town become the setting of shows and concerts: among the best-known ones, the Panoramic Viewpoint of Villa Rufolo, the Garden of the Hotel Caruso, the Garden of Villa Eva, Piazza Duomo and Villa Cimbrone.
The Festival, with its international fame, has contributed to giving the town the name of Town of Music  and New Salzburg. The association brings the name of the famous musician Richard Wagner, who lived in  Ravello at Villa Rufolo from 1880 on where he composed the second act of the Parsifal.
The Villa housed, in the Thirties of 1900, two concerts in the honour of Wagner, put on scene by the orchestra of the San Carlo  Theatre, but it was in 1953 that  Paolo Caruso suggested the idea of a festival for all the lovers of the Wagnerian music, idea which was well accepted by the District Tourist Office. 
It was just on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the German composer's death that the Wagnerian Concerts in the Garden of Klingsor took place: two evenings completely entrusted to the musicians of the Orchestra of the San Carlo Theatre. 
Since the 70's the artistic advice of   Roman Vlad has given originality and quality to the show, while since 2003 the event has been organized by the Fondazione Ravello, and sponsored by the Bank  Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the Region Campania, the District of Salerno, the Municipality of Ravello, the District Tourist Office of Salerno  and the  Superintendency of Salerno and Avellino.  
The show is divided into eight sections: music, dance, cinema, literature, visual arts, training, science and design. The fil rouge of the eight sections has been, since 2003, a thread, for 2009 the theme chosen is Courage which follows the previous themes of Power, Dreams, Contrast, Game, Passion and Diversities. 
In the last few years the Festival has received artists of international fame: among the great conductors we can remember Chung, Gergiev, Penderecki, Termirkanov, Rostropovic, accompanied by orchestras like the Royal Philarmonic  and the London Symphony Orchestra, the Munchen Philharmoniker, the Orchestra National de France, the Philharmonic of Saint Petersburg and the Orchestra of the Rai; and then also important personalities such as Oliviero Toscani, Don McCullin, Roland Petit, Franco Cerri, Edoardo Sanguineti, Abbas Kiarostami, Katia Labeque, Richard Galiano, Herbie Hancock, Salvatore Accardo, Michele Campanella, Roberto Bolle and Alassandra Ferri and, last but not least, Maurice Béjart, the great French choreographer died last year, who for three editions has presented a work of his at the Ravello Festival.
The 2009 edition, directed by Stefano Valanzuolo, introduces a further innovation: for the first time the show has been divided into three parts, a prologue (from 25th April to 25th June), a central body (from 26th June to 30th August) and an epilogue (from 1st to 27th September).