When Gian Carlo Menotti took over the cobbled Umbrian city of Spoleto in 1958 for his first Festival of Two Worlds, the musical fringe of Manhattan's cocktail circuit followed him and introduced the martini to local opera buffs. Italian bluebloods rapidly caught on, and musica é martini dry became the order of the day.
Eight festivals later, Menotti's show has become a way of life. Nobody (who is anybody) comes out for a day or a single event; one settles in for a week or the whole four-week season. "Once you get here,...
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