Music Festivals in Italy Merge in Cost-Cutting Move

Cuts in Italy's culture budget and regional spending have forced two music festivals in the ancient town of Viterbo to merge this summer so that one of them can be saved, organizers said Tuesday.

To enable the famous Viterbo Baroque Festival -- held for the past 41 years -- to go ahead, it will be combined with the Tuscia Operafestival, according to Tuscia's artistic director Stefano Vignati.

Both festivals are funded by the Viterbo region.

"The two festivals will propose a full program of 45 events," Vignati told a press conference in Rome, including opera, concerts, ballets, Latin American tango and even a photography exhibition.

Giacomo Puccini's comic opera "Gianni Schicchi" will open the festival, which runs from July 13 to August 18.