Before the Taylor Swift effect intervened and stimulated local economies around the world as travelers descended on towns and villages to hear her sing, there was the Andrea Bocelli effect. Go ahead and listen for yourself. After just a few notes, the rich, emotionally compelling voice of the Italian tenor will make you want to book a trip to Italy. Or more specifically: to his favorite destination of all time: Tuscany.

“Tuscany is the place where I was born and raised and where I would like to live for the rest of my life,” Bocelli said. Travel + Leisure. After thirty years of traveling the world entertaining the masses, it is also where he spends most of his free time.

“I think in Tuscany we have everything,” he said. “We have art, we have a beautiful landscape, we have the mountains, we have the sea, we have everything you could wish for. When I can spend time at home, I try to meet my friends… if I have a moment I want to go horse riding in the country. These are the things I long for when I’m away.”

And so in Tuscany this summer, Bocelli chose to celebrate his three-decade career milestone with a three-day concert event at Teatro del Silenzio, an open-air amphitheater practically in his own backyard. “I would consider the Teatro di Silenzio my home,” he said. “It’s very emotional for me to sing there.”

He welcomed a star-studded crowd to his home theater for the event, singing duets with Shania Twain, Jon Batiste, Ed Sheeran, Russell Crowe and more as celebrities including Kim Kardashian looked on among a crowd of 30,000 guests.

“He’s so Italian,” Kardashian says in the concert film “Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration.” “He is Italy.”

When asked about her comment, Bocelli smiled. “I am very pleased with this statement,” he said. “I love my country, my language; when I am identified as Italian, I feel really flattered.”

The film, directed by Sam Wrench (who also directed ‘Taylor Swift – The Eras Tour’), ​​opens in US cinemas on November 8. In addition to postcard-worthy Tuscan landscapes and passionate performances, the film captures rare, behind-the-world scenes. scenes of Bocelli in a relaxed and typically Italian state, sharing delicious meals at home with people he admires – and who clearly admire him.

Those people include his daughter, Virginia, 12, and son, Matteo, 27, both aspiring singers who performed a concert with him. They also appear on the tenor’s new album, ‘Duets,’ a 32-song collection he launched in October.

“It’s a beautiful moment,” Bocelli said of singing with his children. “It’s funny. It’s a way to bond as a family, to feel together. The best thing you can do is do fun things with your kids.”

As for his wishes for the coming years, Bocelli said he hopes to spend more time at home with those closest to him. “The reality has far exceeded my expectations,” he said, “so probably my biggest ambition and ambition is to have more free time to spend with my family and my friends in Tuscany.”