7. Learn about the History of Filottrano’s Famous Figures: Cusanino and Giacomo Costantino Beltrami

Cusanino (Giovanni Carestini)
Giovanni Carestini, known as Cusanino, was a highly esteemed soprano, and later contralto, in the 1700s. An illustrious figure from our town, born in Filottrano, he performed in the best European theaters and was extremely famous at the time. Here in Filottrano, the "Sulle orme del Cusanino" (In the Footsteps of Cusanino) Festival will take place from August 24th to 31st, featuring baroque music concerts every evening.

Giacomo Costantino Beltrami
Beltrami was born in Bergamo but was a Filottrano citizen by adoption. He was a magistrate, traveler, scholar, and the discoverer of the sources of the Mississippi River. He established good relations with the Sioux populations, bringing back numerous artifacts that are now preserved in Filottrano.

Among these items, which are unique in the world, is a medicine drum that belonged to a shaman. This drum, decorated on both faces with a demon figure and a solar disc, was considered so unique that it was chosen as the symbol for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, in 1988.