CASALMAGGIORE

The beautiful, old town of Casalmaggiore, situated in Northern Italy on the Po River plain, has a population of about 8,000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by cultural gems, including the renowned cities of Cremona, Parma and Mantua. Milan, Venice, Verona, Florence, Pisa and Rome are easily accessible by train. On free days students may take the opportunity to visit these beautiful cities.

Flying to Casalmaggiore

When?

To decide when booking your flights, please consider that the Festival will start with the orientation meeting on July 8th at 9:30 AM (Central Europe Time) and will finish with the Gala Concert on July 28 at 9:15 PM.

Suggested Options:

The nearest airport is Parma (PMF), which is just 25 km from Casalmaggiore. It is connected with London Stansted (STN) with a Ryanair flight every day except on Saturdays. Another convenient route in terms of time saving for non-European travellers is flying to Rome Fiumicino (FCO) and then taking a domestic flight to Parma.

Another suggested airport is Bologna (BLQ), which can be reached from the main European airports: London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris CDG, Madrid.

Other Airports:

The international airports of Milan Malpensa (MXP), Milan Linate (LIN) and Bergamo/Orio al Serio (BGY) can be also used and Casalmaggiore can be reached with public transports from there.

The table here below summarizes the relevant information about the four closest international airports. Everyone is invited to consider carefully the distance and the journey time between Casalmaggiore and these airports before deciding which flights to reserve. For example, people travelling via Milan Malpensa should land not later than 14:00 on July 7 and should take-off not earlier than 10:00 on July 29.

Note that, because of the distance and of the public transports available, it is often more convenient flying to one of the mean European hubs like London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, or Paris and then taking a second flight to Bologna than flying directly to Milan Malpensa.

Bus transport between airports and Casalmaggiore

A charter bus can be arranged on July 7 and July 29 between the two airports in Milan and Casalmaggiore if enough people are interested in it. The total cost is euro 700, and must be shared among the travellers. Payment must be cash on the bus.

According to the experience of the previous years, on July 7 the bus from Milan should depart from Milan Malpensa at about 14:00 and from Milan Linate at about 15:30; arrival time in Casalmaggiore is about at 18:00. People who arrive later at these airports must arrange their transports themselves.

On July 29 the bus to Milan will depart from Casalmaggiore according to the firts scheduled departure times from the airports, so it is likely that it will be very early in the morning (about 5 AM).

Also, other buses or vans can be chartered between Casalmaggiore and other airports upon request.

If you are interested, please fill the online form and/or contact the staff of the Festival in Italy (festival@casalmaggiorefestival.com)

Directions to Casalmaggiore and Santa Chiara

Please download some pdf pages about:

1 - How to reach Casalmaggiore by train

2 - How to reach Santa Chiara from the railway station in Casalmaggiore

Accomodation in Casalmaggiore

Note that accomodation options in Casalmaggiore are very limited and the nearest hotel from Santa Chiara, the place of residence of the students and of most of the faculty, is about 1.5 km away. Click here for a list of suggested hotels and B&B's.