4 Aug-9 Sept 2006. This festival was founded in 1961 by the Venetian lawyer, Italo Trentinaglia de Daverio, inspired by his great love of music. His father, Erardo, was director general of the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, general manager of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, as well as a prolific composer. The Trentinaglia family owned a villa in Stresa and often hosted musical personalities such as Umberto Giordano and Arturo Toscanini who, together with Victor de Sabata, was one of their most frequent guests. They were all enchanted by the natural beauty and quiet quality of life they found in Stresa, as Stendhal and Wagner had been before them. During one of his stays at the villa, Trentinaglia came up with the idea to create an annual event that would put Stresa on the international map of music. In addition to the regular artists who perform at the festival, young award-winning musicians are invited. Some of these new talents have become leading musicians of our time, such as Michele Campanella, Murray Perahia, Jeffrey Swann and, more recently, Andrea Lucchesini, Maurizio Zanini and Nikolaj Znaider.