Italy - a sun-soaked land of olives and cypresses, of art, culture and civilisation, where wine flows freely and passions run high. The land where everyone sings, and where opera was born. From the sparkling wit of Rossini - a man who enjoyed his food even more than his music, to Verdi's sophisticated world of triumphal marches and glittering balls, ladies of easy virtue and men who love and leave them; from Puccini's doomed heroines - fiery Tosca, fragile Butterfly and consumptive Mimi - who suffer for their loves (but still die singing!) to the parched southern landscape of Pagliacci, where tempers flare quickly and blood stains the arid earth - whether in real life or on the stage, Italy has always expressed its joys and sorrows in memorable melody.

Play the music, and breathe the heady air of Italy.