PALERMO - In the countryside between Agrigento and Porto Empedocle in the district of Caos, a name with an almost prophetic flavor, stands the birthplace of Luigi Pirandello. The place where the great playwright and Nobel Prize for literature expressly asked to return, after his death: "Let the cinerary urn be brought to Sicily and walled up in some rough stone in the Girgenti countryside where I was born". After almost a year of closure for the planned interventions, the Sicilian Region has returned to the public the Luigi Pirandello House Museum, redeveloped and with a new exhibition set-up, as the president of the Region Nello Musumeci and the regional councilor for heritage pointed out with satisfaction. Cultural and Sicilian Identity Alberto Samonà.
After the maintenance, adaptation and removal of architectural barriers, Pirandello's birthplace now also offers an immersive and multimedia journey through original texts, archival audiovisual materials and specially composed music. The narrating voice of Leo Gullotta guides an emotional visit that winds through the different stations, with innovative technological solutions perfectly integrated into the environment of the historic home. A smartphone application allows you to enjoy, both inside and outside the museum, various in-depth contents including texts, audio and augmented reality. Finally, the visit experience is completed with the "Virtual Tour" with 360 ° images, accessible on the web from any device.The new exhibition was curated by Tim and Ett and integrates the rich artistic and documentary heritage of the House Museum with multimedia and immersive experiences. The museum itinerary unfolds in six rooms, each dedicated to a different theme, like stages on a journey. Room 1A (Man and family) introduces the visit through painting, passion of the Pirandello family, 1B (The landscapes of the soul and the two-faced Janus) to his places of the heart and Pirandello's dualisms, room 2 (Theater and cinema) is dedicated to the theatrical and cinematographic production of the author; Room 3 (Life and Death) houses the Greek vase that kept the writer's ashes and offers a video projection through which it is easy to identify with the main events of his life; in 4 (Sala delle parole) the visitor will enter "physically"in the Pirandellian vocabulary; in 5 (Novels, short stories and poems) a reproduction of the writer's desk invites the visitor to digitally browse his notes; finally, Room 6 (Masks) is dedicated to a theme dear to Pirandello's work.
All the contents were created with the supervision and scientific coordination of Professor Sarah Zappulla Muscarà and the lawyer Enzo Zappulla, one of the leading Pirandellian experts and scholars, under the supervision of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of Agrigento to which both the House will be entrusted. Museum and the Pirandelliana Library, after the handover from the Archaeological Park. Coopculture was instead entrusted with additional services such as ticketing, reception with its own staff and the organization of cultural events.
The villa where the Luigi Pirandello House Museum is located belonged to the Ricci Gramitto, the writer's maternal ancestors, since 1817. In fact, the Pirandello family found refuge in this residence to escape the serious cholera epidemic that raged throughout Sicily.
Damaged in 1944 by the explosion of the nearby ammunition depot of American troops, it was declared a national monument in 1949.
Three years later the Sicilian Region bought it and began the restoration and arrangement works of the house and of the small road connecting the maritime pine, the tree under which the playwright found inspiration and asked to be buried.