Rimini is set to host the “Longest New Year’s Eve in the world”, with 140 events for a month of celebrations. Then, on 31st December, the New Year festivities will be celebrating in the name of culture with the opening of the museums and the projections of light and sound shows in the identifying places of Rimini.
This is the most unique and evocative New Years’ event, culminating in one spectacular night. Eleven piazzas and public spaces in symbiosis thanks to music, art, cinema, dreams ... and beauty. Extraordinary international museums, DJ sets, projection mapping and arthouse visual design to gaze upon with wonder for a New Year’s Eve that will see the entire city open its arms, creating a unique party atmosphere thanks to a special extensive animation project, designed around the particular occasion it is set to celebrate. Rimini announces its 31st December as the highlight of the “Longest New Year’s Eve in the World” schedule: 140 events in one month, with initiatives, activities with a mix of tradition and contemporaneity, choirs and events around the tree with the desire to smile, have fun, be together in complete safety thanks to a city that is entirely welcoming and active, with its 300 hotels open, the hundreds of restaurants and public establishments ready to welcome tourists, visitors and residents alike.
The “Longest New Year’s Eve in the World” adapts to the times whilst offering an extraordinary window on art, culture and celebration with a programme that, from December to January, will lead into the new year. A playbill with dozens of events to be experienced safely and outdoors, all revolving around beauty, dreams and imagination, built on the trajectory that unfurls through an entire city comprised of open spaces, scattered locations, historic buildings and modern locations.
After skipping 2020, for this end-of-year celebration, the Municipality of Rimini is preparing an extensive calendar of “things to do”, which got off to an ideal start on Sunday 12th December with the opening of Palazzo del Fulgor complete with a museum/non-museum bearing unique characteristics unlike anything else in the world – the Fellini Museum, which continues in a fusion of images and notes that will form the score set to enrich the evening of 31st December. A long night divided amongst eleven different spaces within the city centre, with museums open and tours running until 3:00 am to visit Castel Sismondo, Palazzo del Fulgor, Part, Teatro Galli, the Domus and the Museo della Città, with DJ sets and concerts in Piazza Malatesta, Arena Francesca da Rimini, Teatro degli Atti and the new wing of the Museo della Città, a piazza on the water to toast to art in music at the Domus del Chirurgo and the Sala del Giudizio of the Museum.
This party will be illuminated by plays of light and colours to signal this passage towards the new year with special projection mapping shows that travel through space and time to connect the main areas that comprise the new spaces in the city centre with the piazza on the water, transforming the locations into special settings hosting the musical events of the last day of the year. In the piazza on the water is WELCOME!, an animated video story that evokes the message of resilience and fraternity at the heart of the “208” light installation, with the concept of hospitality typical of the Rimini “caput viarum” DNA and of the blend of Mediterranean people, to speak precisely of Rimini, a provincial city anchored in roots and tradition but with an open look on the world. In the so-called Square of Dreams will be the visual design show titled ‘Insight!’ and curated by Karmachina, which on 31st December will transform Piazza Malatesta into the fulcrum of an extensive experience that will see the buildings magically come to life and be animated in underscoring the architectural elements that characterise the façades – from the Palazzo del Fulgor to the tower of Castel Sismondo, passing through two of the façades of Teatro Galli, with projections that dialogue with each other, enveloping the spectators in a play of light with a strong emotional impact. A fil rouge that will also animate the buildings surrounding that new urban location that has been symbolically named Piazza dei Sogni – the Square of Dreams. Insight! will even accompany the musical programme of 31st December in Piazza Malatesta.
And on the stage in Piazza Malatesta, swathed in the play of light and architectural animation, “Malatesta Soul” will be staged, being a live show with two atmospheres and two protagonists. It begins at 10:45 pm with a Swinging Charleston and French Cabaret that will musically flow into funk and dance atmospheres thanks to the vocal and musical energy of Kelly Joyce accompanied by a band of highly prestigious musicians and a dance troupe. The band composed of piano, drums, bass/double bass, guitar and trumpet will invoke the French musical climate leading to today, with the presentation of the latest single from Kelly Joyce – “Male, Male” – accompanied by her great hits until twelve o’clock. After the stroke of midnight, the live project of Saturnino Power Trio will be the protagonist to welcome in the New Year. A live concert that sways between funk and nu-soul sounds, in search of the ideal groove to connect with the audience. Saturnino Celani is undoubtedly one of the most famous Italian bass players, known to the general public for having trod the boards of stages all over the world together with Lorenzo Jovanotti. His passion for music is transversal, touching on many genres from rock to jazz and funk. Joining him on stage will be Riccardo Onori, guitarist, author and producer, who has collaborated with many artists including Diaframma, Dirotta su Cuba and Irene Grandi. In 2001, he too joined Lorenzo Jovanotti’s squad to partake in the penning of many songs. Donald Renda on drums boasts collaborations with artists of national calibre such as Noemi and Patty Pravo, a groove machine able to mix funk rhythms with electronic dance sounds.
In the nearby Arena Francesca da Rimini, the nationally-renowned Rimini DJ Max Monti and students from the Music Academy Rimini will warm the atmosphere with live music and DJ sets. Following the DELLAI concert with their Band, the twins Luca and Matteo reached the Sanremo 2021 Festival in the youth section, with their musical project born in the Rimini music academy.
Also on 31st December but in the Modern Wing of the Museo della Città, a special auditory tribute will be the protagonist of Music Landscape, whilst the Latin sounds of the Grancaribe Discolatino line-up will be staged in the Chiostro of the Teatro degli Atti with the DJ sets of Rafael Nuñez and DJ Naps, set to start at 10:30 pm. A journey that grooves from the Antilles to South America through its dances and folklore. Cuban, Brazilian and Dominican dancers will perform with a mix of Capoeira and Argentine tango, the latest Latin music, Dembow and Reggaeton.
The Rimini New Years’ Eve continues under the banner of culture. Just like every year, the midnight toast at the Museo della Città is unmissable, buoyed by the sounds of the EoS Quartet that will perform a concert ranging from Bach to Led Zeppelin in the Sala del Giudizio. Aldo Capicchioni and Michela Zanotti will be on violin, Aldo Maria Zangheri on viola and Alessandro Culiani on cello (from 10:30 pm, following the toast in the Museo, with details and obligatory reservations at: www.ticketlandia.com/m/musei-rimini). At the Domus del Chirurgo on 31st December, the jazz notes of the Lego Jazz 4et will resound, with Pako Montuori on drums, Mauro Mussoni on double bass, Simone Migani on piano and Simone La Maida on sax (from 10:30 pm, followed by the toast, with details and mandatory reservations at: www.ticketlandia.com/m/musei-rimini).
The new year of culture continues until 3:00 am with extraordinary and free evening openings of the Fellini Museum between Castel Sismondo and Palazzo del Fulgor for a visit to the 18th-century palace where a young Fellini discovered cinema and to the Renaissance rooms of the fortified tower of Castel Sismondo, the 15th-century fortress with a design attributed to Filippo Brunelleschi and which today hosts real Fellini sets, delving into the more performative and emotional dimension of the FM – Fellini Museum.
The doors will open onto modern and contemporary art at the PART – the Palazzi dell’Arte Rimini – in the historic palaces of the Arengo and the Podestà overlooking the central Piazza Cavour in Rimini, from where you can admire works of contemporary art from the eclectic collection of the San Patrignano Foundation. From 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm on 31st December, the PART will host A Midwinter Day’s Dream. In the midst of the beautiful works of art in the museum, time will stop to spark the imagination, where young and old alike will be able to witness a wonderful representation that will immerse participants in a fairy-tale world, seeing the fantastic life of the King and Queen with their elves and forest fairies. Whimsical creatures in incredible garments will dance to etheric music when ACLI Arte e Spettacolo Rimini presents H.O.P.E. for DANCE Amateur Sports Association Rimini in collaboration with the Cartoon Club.
Also open until 3:00 am will be the Teatro Galli, a truly evocative place, inaugurated by Giuseppe Verdi in 1857 then rendered inaccessible for decades before being restored to its current splendour, along with the Museo della Città and the Domus. Indeed, on 31st December, all local museums will follow the schedule: 10:00 am–1:00 pm/4:00 pm–7:00 pm/9:00–3:00 am (with free admission only from 9:00 pm–3:00 am).
Even the Visitor Centre at Corso d’Augusto 235 will open its doors to those wanting to discover the city through the multimedia and interactive route that sets out from the Roman era when Ariminum was Caput Viarum (with opening times of: 3:30 pm–7:30 pm and 8:00 pm–10:00 pm, with free admission).
The party continues at Fulgor with San Silvestro al Cinema, offering a selection of films in cinemas for Christmas accompanied by a sweet buffet to toast in the New Year together at the stroke of midnight. The night screening of the cult film “Frankenstein Junior” will then commence in the Sala Federico at 1:30 am (see www.cinemafulgor.com for details).
To inaugurate the New Year from the stage of the Teatro Galli will be Don Pasquale, an Opera Buffa in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti based on a libretto devised by Michele Accursi but actually written by Donizetti himself along with Giovanni Ruffini, based on the playful drama by Angelo Anelli Ser Marcantonio from 1810. Presented for the first time in Paris in 1843, Don Pasquale is an engaging work that tells of the generational clash in an ever-relatable way, setting to stage a story that takes the characters of Commedia dell’Arte as a reference, true to the tradition of comic opera. It is curated by the Amintore Galli Lyric Choir. Opening times: 1st January as of 5:30 pm – 2nd January as of 5:30 pm – 3rd January as of 8.30 pm – 4th January as of 8:30 pm. Pre-sales can be made each day from 9th December in Piazza Cavour 31 from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm, except on 25th and 26th December when the office will be closed. On the days of the performances (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th January 2022), the ticket office will move to the Teatro Galli which, on 1st and 2nd January, will be open from 3:30 pm, then on 3rd and 4th January from 5:30 pm (for information: www.corogallirimini.it).
The backdrop is a city lit up for the festivities amidst luminous decorations, arches of light and starry roofs.
Find here all the events of the Longest New Year’s Eve in the world by choosing the date