Beauty Festival, the Arena di Verona as an Agora

The thousand faces of love in an Arena in Verona as never seen before, which returns to welcome the public after the terrible months of the coronavirus emergency. The most famous amphitheater in the world takes on the appearance of its origins with the audience of sand free from the armchairs, the public all around on the steps and for the first time turns into the square of ancient Greece, space for reflections, tales and dedicated shows Eros. '' Arena Agorà '' from 11 to 19 September is proposed as a special edition of the Beauty Festival, a mosaic of events with 16 appointments between philosophy, art, psychology, sports, music and theater to offer viewers transversal insights and intellectual stimuli thanks to the comparison with great guests, from Alessandro Baricco to Mogol, Edoardo Bennato, Massimo Recalcati, Morgan, Vittorio Sgarbi, from Philippe Daverio to Federico Buffa, Flavio Tranquillo, Umberto Galimberti, Gioele Dix, Massimo Cacciari, Gloria Campaner, Alessio Boni .
    The Agorà project - wanted by the mayor of Verona Federico Sboarina and organized by Alcide Marchioro, artistic director of the Beauty Festival, with Gianmarco Mazzi, managing director of Arena di Verona srl ​​- will unfold on each of the nine days with a double appointment, in the evening with the narration entrusted to intellectuals and philosophers, and later with the performance of musicians, singers and actors. The scenographic installation of Michelangelo Pistoletto's opera "Il Terzo Paradiso" will be added to the suggestion of the magnificent scenery of the Arena. Gianmarco Mazzi, to whom we owe the idea of ​​the Agora, says that "in this unfortunate year of discomfort and bewilderment for what I call the" carognavirus "we thought of relying on men of thought for signs of comfort and help to find a direction. '' '' This Festival has a symbolic value - explains Alcide Marchioro -: we have chosen the theme of Eros also in contrast to fear, as a vital force that moves the world. Having called some of the main intellectuals and artists to reflect on the human condition seemed to us of particular importance at this time. It is the first time of philosophical reflections in the Arena. After music, therefore, the amphitheater thus becomes the temple of the Word ''.
    '' It was not obvious that the Arena would reopen - underlines the mayor Sboarina -. We threw our hearts over the obstacle because our goal is to tell everyone: come to Verona, an Arena like this you have never seen. On 25 July we leave with the Opera until the end of August, in the first half of September with pop and rock concerts, then with the Beauty Festival. The Arena is rekindled with music and high culture ''.
    The events will accommodate 3800 spectators spaced across the entire space of the steps, or 1800 when only half of the amphitheater will be occupied. The evening appointments at 18.30 open on Friday 11 September with Alessandro Baricco and the lectio 'Sul Tempo e sull'Amore'; in the following days, the philosophical reflections of Umberto Galimberti 'The Greeks, the soul and love' and of Massimo Cacciari 'Philo-Sophia and Eros-Sophia'; the psychological exploration of Massimo Recalcati 'A dream called desire', the digression of Philippe Daverio on Klimt, Schiele, Schoenberg and the Vienna of the avant-garde; Vittorio Sgarbi's critical account of Modigliani's character and art in the atmosphere of Paris in the early 1900s. Mogol tells the turning point of the song in the 60s / 70s, Edoardo Bennato performs in the unique concert 'The Beauty of Rock', Morgan and Vittorio Sgarbi bring on stage the connection of music with the visual arts in 'The underground velvet of' eros', on Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, rock and art in the 1960s; Federico Buffa and Flavio Tranquillo describe the epic of Michael Jordan, the basketball giant who became the first major planetary icon. Alessandro Baricco with the pianist Gloria Campaner and the 40 elements of the Canova orchestra will face Ludwig van Beethoven and the romantic spirit in an unusual way. Gioele Dix will propose a monologue ironically connecting literary classics "between text and pretext", while Alessio Boni will ask himself about the fascination of acting. Arena Agorà is part of the seventh 2020 edition of the Beauty Festival. The opening with the first of seven events on the program is scheduled for Friday 28 August at the Roman Theater with Jasmine Trinca, winner of the David di Donatello for best leading actress. (HANDLE).