The Arts - Rome - page 712

di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville; 1816), Verdi's Il Trovatore (The Troubadour; 1853) and
Giacomo Puccini's Tosca (1900).
Tosca not only premiered in Rome but is also set in the city. The first act takes place in
the Chiesa di Sant'Andrea della Valle, the second in Palazzo Farnese, and the final act in
Castel Sant'Angelo, the castle from which Tosca jumps to her death.
Adapted from a book by Giancarlo De Cataldo, the critically-acclaimed TV series Romanzo Criminale tells the
story of a Rome-based criminal gang. The storyline and characters are based on the real-life Banda della
Magliana which dominated Rome's criminal underworld in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Jazz, Hip Hop & the Contemporary Scene
Jazz has long been a mainstay of Rome's music scene. Introduced by US troops during
WWII, it grew in popularity during the postwar period and took off in the 1960s with the
opening of the mythical Folkstudio club. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength
and the city now boasts some fabulous jazz clubs, including Alexanderplatz, Big Mama
and the Casa del Jazz. Big names to look out for include Enrico Pieranunzi, a Roman-born
pianist and composer, and Doctor 3 whose idiosyncratic sound has earned them consider-
able acclaim.
Rome also has a vibrant rap and hip hop scene. Hip hop, which arrived in the city in the
late 1980s and spread via the centro sociale (organised squat) network, was originally
highly politicised and many early exponents associated themselves with Rome's alternat-
ive left-wing scene. But in recent years exposure and ever-increasing commercialisation
has diluted this political element and the scene has largely gone mainstream. For a taste of
genuine Roman rap tune into bands such as Colle der Fomento, Cor Veleno or the
ragamuffin outfit Villa Ada Posse.
Dancehall is another popular music style and many of the capital's top clubs host regu-
lar dancehall nights.
An artist, architect and art historian, Giorgio Vasari (1511−1574) was the first person to use the term
'Middle Ages'. He wrote it in his classic work of art history, The Lives of the Artists (1550), to describe the peri-
od between classical antiquity and the 16th-century Renaissance.