WELCOME TO VERANOS DE LA VILLA

Culture is for summer too.

As everyone knows, and as Fernando Fernán Gómez told us, bicycles are for summer. What else is for summer? Red wine and soda, long, bright afternoons, warm, vibrant nights... And culture, culture is for summer too. In Madrid we’ve been aware of this since 1985, the year in which Veranos de la Villa was born, committed  to offering a top-quality cultural programme to all those who stay in our city during the summer months.

Times and habits have changed: the summer exodus, for example, is no longer as long as it used to be. The year-round vitality and creativity of Madrid’s public spaces doesn’t fade for a second in July and August, in fact it springs to life. Organised by The Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports at Madrid City Council, Veranos de la Villa fills Madrid with a multitude of cultural and leisure activities in its thirty-ninth edition. Throughout an almost two-month programme, the festival will dazzle us with an intense agenda of concerts, theatre, dance, zarzuela, circus, exhibitions and children's activities. All in all, nearly two hundred cultural events will fill 29 venues throughout the city.

Artists from eleven countries – including Germany, Colombia, Cuba, the United States, Italy, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Portugal and Switzerland – will bring their characteristic cosmopolitan flavour to Veranos de la Villa. What’s more, this year, thanks to the collaboration and support of the China Cultural Center in Madrid and in the framework of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the presence of artists from China is one of the main themes of the festival, as it’s this year’s guest country.

From July 5th to August 27th, we invite everyone to come and revel in our open and multidisciplinary programme, which opens with the aerial dance company Aerial Strada, who make the Madrid sky their stage, and closes with a concert by Italians musicians Giovanni Sollima and Enrico Melozzi accompanied by 100 chelos. In between, big names such as Ute Lemper, Eliades Ochoa, Lee Fields, Carlos Sadness, and Sole Giménez will grace us, alongside promising young artists showcased in the Sonidos en el Patio. Prestigious dance companies such as the Ballet Nacional de España, the Companhia Nacional de Bailado, Eduardo Guerrero and the Compañía Antonio Gades will also head to Madrid to join us in the vibrant activities that bring the streets of Madrid to life.

There’s no doubt about it: culture is meant for summer, and in Madrid, culture never wanes, not even for a moment.