1975: the first Department of Culture was established in Torino. Diego Novelli, then mayor, appointed Giorgio Balmas as councilor for culture. Born in 1927, in the immediate postwar period, while still a high school student, he had founded the Students’ Musical Union. Balmas served for ten years as councilor, leaving a strong mark on all aspects of the city’s cultural life: exhibitions, performances, educational activities, and the organization of libraries. He supported historic institutions and backed
innovative initiatives. His major achievement was being the first to decentralize cultural activities. In 1976 he created the Estate Torinese, filling the city’s parks with theatre, dance, music, circus, and cinema. The Punti Verdi were born—an initiative later imitated by many other Italian cities. On 18 March 1977, six thousand people in the stands of the Palasport listened to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. On 9 September of the same year, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 was performed in Piazza San Carlo to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death. The unexpected turnout of forty thousand people showed that it was necessary to rethink how
classical music was experienced, making listening more accessible. This was the debut of Settembre Musica. The first edition took place from 28 August to 7 October 1978. Seventy concerts were announced, all free of charge, most of them held in churches. The success led the number to rise to 86. Tens of thousand attended. Twenty years
after his death, the Festival remembers its founder.