Up in the Appenines, 100 miles down the Adriatic coast from San Marino, picturesque Macerata doesn’t draw anything like the international crowds Italy’s most illustrious cities do. Yet the entire surrounding region of Le Marche rewards a visit, especially in summertime, when the neoclassical architectural marvel known as the Sferisterio resounds with opera. Built as a sports arena mostly for games you never heard of but also for bullfighting, the facility has a rectangular footprint that is wide but narrow, which presents challenges. Among this summer’s offerings, Leoncavallo’s surefire verismo tragedy Pagliacci stars Fabio Sartori, a tenor who more than makes up in voice and sincerity what he lacks in personal glamour—just the ticket for the clown who laughs while his heart is breaking. As a curtain raiser, Charlie Chaplin’s classic feature The Circus, freshly restored and accompanied by a live performance of its original score for the first time since 1928. —Matthew Gurewitsch