Absolute Dante, Rome celebrates the Supreme Poet

The heart of Rome as a Dante's circle in which to pay homage to the greatest poet of all time with multiple languages, but also as an exceptional place to finally go out, after the long closure, "to see the stars": there will be seven evenings of "Dante absolute and sky and earth", the festival scheduled from 1 to 20 July at the Basilica of Maxentius, promoted by the Colosseum Archaeological Park, in collaboration with Electa. Designed to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, the festival directed by Maria Ida Gaeta offers the public a "close" and free encounter with the Supreme Poet (admission is by reservation and contingent) through a mixture of arts, from literature to theater, from music to images: the idea is to seek a new "reading ofauthor "- with unpublished texts inspired by Dante's themes and characters, recited and sung triplets, refined scenographies with projections and a stage and an audience conceived as an installation - to tell Dante as a central figure in our linguistic and cultural identity but also as an icon popular, able to tell us about us and the world of today.

A current Dante, therefore, which will be revealed to the spectators (also with direct streaming) by a contemporary investigation carried out by a plurality of voices, all important names in culture and entertainment: it begins with the first evening entrusted to Francesco De Gregori who , with the musicians of the Italian Popular Orchestra directed by Ambrogio Sparagna, he will be the protagonist of a particular musical event; then in the same evening an impossible interview with Beatrice, made by Chiara Valerio, Sergio Rubini and Michela Murgia and the performances of the rappers Murubutu and Claver Gold. Also in the following appointments there will be many themes and protagonists that will animate Dante's festival at the Roman Forum: from Javier Cercas and Roberto Saviano who will reveal how Dante made evil speakable,to the texts by Melania Mazzucco and Alessandro Piperno, by Aldo Cazzullo and the monologue by Monica Guerritore to the evening dedicated to poetry with the voices of the poets Valerio Magrelli and Ana Blandiana together with the scholars Lina Bolzoni and Fabio Stassi. And again, the interventions by Giulio Ferroni and Franco Cardini and the closing with the authors Edoardo Albinati, Stefania Auci and Nicola Lagioia.

But the goal of "Dante Absolute" is also to underline the commitment of an "identity place like the Colosseum Archaeological Park not only to promote the festival after the pandemic as a sign of rebirth but to become a culture incubator", explains Alfonsina Russo, Director of the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum, "we are working to create a permanent stage in summer and removable in winter at the Basilica Massenzio in the hope that this will become the main place to give the Romans all the performing arts". "There are many ways to read Dante and to testify to his lasting relevance", adds the director of the festival Maria Ida Gaeta, "the celebrations for the 700th anniversary of Dante's death reveal how widespread love and interest for Dante are :his work is a breeding ground for reflections in all fields ".

In the festival - in which there are many partnerships: in addition to the patronage of the Dante700 Committee and the collaboration with FUIS (Italian Federation of Writers), "Dante Absolute" makes use of the collaboration with the MAR Museo d'Arte della city ​​of Ravenna and, for the evening of 5 July, the support of the Center for books and reading and the ADI (Association of Italianists), alongside the media partnership with Rai Cultura - there will be incursions by actors such as Valeria Solarino and Anna Bonaiuto , Giorgio Colangeli and Lucia Mascino, Maddalena Crippa and Lunetta Savino and musicians such as Rita Marcotulli, Riccardo Manzi, Erica Scherl, Pierpaolo Ranieri, Alessandra Celletti, Cristiano Godano, frontman of the rock group Marlene Kuntz, the violinist HER,the poet singer Giovanni Succi leader of the indie rock group Bachi da Pietra and the very young Fulminacci.