A perfect combination of music and nature. This is Salzburg, Austrian city close to Southern Bavaria. A place of singular beauty on the banks of the Salzach River, a tributary of the Inn, Salzburg is at the northern boundary of the Alps. The mountains to the South of Salzburg's contrast with the rolling green plains to the North. The idyllic and uncorrupted natural landscapes are not the only reason which every year attracts approximately 10 million tourists: Salzburg is also famous for having given birth to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose birthplace is now a museum. The Salzburg Festival, one of the most important festivals of classical music and opera in the world, is dedicated to the great master and it takes place every year from late July throughout the entire month of August. Inaugurated in 1920 by theater director Max Reinhardt, composer Richard Strauss and poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal in the name of purity and beauty in Mozart's sense, today the festival has a program that ranges from the classics to contemporary.