2 cities reunite as Spoleto dances in

Two mayors, one from the Old World, one from the New World, embraced on a balcony at Charleston City Hall, and vowed a renewed collaboration after a 14-year split between the Spoleto Festival USA and Italy's Festival of Two Worlds.

At the opening ceremonies of the 2007 Spoleto Festival Friday, Mayor Massimo Brunini of Spoleto, Italy, said, "There is no doubt that Spoleto and Charleston are now, after 30 years, united by a special tie that only culture can create, and I believe the time is ripe to make official a true and appropriate twinship between the two cities to exceed the confines of the festival, enlarging into an exchange of people and trade."

Answering this proposal, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said, "I agree that the festivals should collaborate again and share our music, dance, opera and our cities, and I know that will happen again with Mayor Brunini's leadership."

More than 800 people gathered for the 31st opening, under balmy skies. The buzz in the audience was about the 15 business leaders from Spoleto Italy, another sign the two festivals, which split over financial differences in 1993, might share resources.

Both Brunini and Riley praised Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, founder of both arts festivals, who died Feb. 1 at age 95, for making possible such a relationship and opportunities for both famous and fledgling performers.

"We must be grateful to Gian Carlo Menotti, to whose genius and intuition and sagacity we owe the invention of the Festival of Two Worlds, born in Spoleto and then reborn in Charleston," said Brunini. "To live peacefully, we all know culture is the best means. In Menotti's name, we can, and must grow together."

Riley said that without Menotti's vision "none of us would be sitting here today in front of a beautifully restored city hall made possible by the economic power brought by the Spoleto Festival USA that began this city's renaissance."

To the delight of the crowd, baritone John Hancock, who performs in the Spoleto opera "Faustus," sang the national anthem of Italy in Italian, and then performed "The Star Spangled Banner" in English. Brunini's speech was delivered in Italian and translated by College of Charleston assistant professor of Italian Giovanna DeLuca.

In closing, the Rubberbandance Group bounced onto the stage performing a balletic break dance in jeans and sneakers to the elegant music of Verdi's "The Traviattle," blending the old and the new. Menotti would have loved it.