Accademia Internazionale di Mandolino e Chitarra
For a week each summer the Accademia Internazionale Italiana di Mandolino e Chitarra takes over a hotel in Acqui — players of every level study with Carlo Aonzo and his faculty, and the week opens to the public for two concerts, an ensemble evening and a grand-orchestra finale.
Why it's special
It is one of Italy's serious plucked-string schools, directed by mandolinist Carlo Aonzo, and its 20th-anniversary week lands in Acqui in 2026. You don't have to play to enjoy it: the closing concerts put a full mandolin-and-guitar orchestra into the town's churches and squares, which is a sound you rarely get to hear.
Programme · 2026
20th-anniversary edition, based at the Hotel La Meridiana (Piazza Duomo 4), a restored 18th-century former bishop's seminary in the old town. A week of orchestra and sectional rehearsals, technique and interpretation classes, workshops and conferences, open to all levels of mandolin, mandola, mandocello and classical and flamenco guitar. Faculty: Carlo Aonzo (director, mandolin), Michele De Martino (mandolin and Neapolitan tradition), Sebastiaan de Grebber (mandolin and mandocello), Anne-Sophie Llorens and Roberto Margaritella (guitar).
- The daily classes are for enrolled musicians, but the two public concerts are the reason to note the dates — the ensemble evening at the Hotel La Meridiana on 21 August and the grand-orchestra finale in the Chiesa dell'Addolorata on the evening of 22 August.
- Check accademiamandolino.com for the final concert programme and whether booking is needed.
Acqui Terme is a spa town that fills its churches with music every summer, and for one week in August 2026 the instruments are mandolins. The Accademia Internazionale Italiana di Mandolino e Chitarra — Italy's best-known plucked-string school, run by the mandolinist Carlo Aonzo — brings its 20th-anniversary course here, working out of the Hotel La Meridiana, a restored former bishop's seminary just off Piazza Duomo.
Most of the week is for the players: rehearsals, sectionals, technique and interpretation classes, and workshops for everyone from beginners to advanced, on mandolin, mandola, mandocello and guitar. The faculty comes from across Europe — Aonzo and Michele De Martino on mandolin, Sebastiaan de Grebber from the Netherlands, Anne-Sophie Llorens and Roberto Margaritella on guitar.
You don't need to enrol to hear the result. On the Thursday evening the ensemble plays at the hotel, joined by a guest Irish traditional musician; on the Saturday the whole academy assembles for the Concerto Finale a Grand'Orchestra in the Chiesa dell'Addolorata — a full orchestra of mandolins and guitars in a stone church, which is worth rearranging an evening for. Dates and times above. More on the town at Acqui Terme.