A visual, audio and cognitive immersion in Dante's Italy and in the feelings of the Divine Comedy, from love to power.
With Aldo Cazzullo "storyteller", as he defines himself, and the voice of Alessandro Preziosi we take a special journey with Dante, the voice that speaks about us, a new format that debuts on Tuesday 20 February at 9.10pm on Rai Storia, in six episodes.
Dante "is a finger pointing at our conscience. It's a shame that we're all a bit digitalized, quick to settle. A project like this serves to remain in the ether" Alessandro Preziosi, who is currently on the set of the second Black out series, which is filmed in the Dolomites.
"We try to tell not so much the story of his life as the story of his work because Dante is the first to speak of Italy, albeit in very harsh terms. 'Ah, serve Italy!' is his famous invective. He is very severe with Italy because he loves it and would like it to be better than it was. For Dante, Italy had a mission: to reconcile the Rome of the Caesars and the Rome of the Popes, classicism and Christianity" Cazzullo explains to ANSA.
Dante, the voice that speaks about us "was born as a podcast, then they decided to make it a broadcast. Cazzullo is our Virgil. He is formidable, he contextualizes the recited part of the songs. He introduces with historical-political and landscape information that accompanies the choice of songs that are not just the classics, the most famous. This mix is beautiful" says Preziosi who will be inside Santa Croce in Florence.
"I made all the recordings in this basilica which is one of the most evocative in Florence. We shot for three days and three nights. There will also be Durer's silk-screen prints shown in 3D through a cyclorama of images that describe the songs being talked about ".
Cazzullo will instead be on the Tower of Palazzo Vecchio and in other places of Dante, in Florence.
The first appointment will be dedicated to the Gift of Love, from Paolo and Francesca to Pia dei Tolomei to Count Ugolino.
"We don't do much theory, but we tell stories with a particular focus on women. For example, Dante sends Francesca's murderer, her jealous husband, to the caina, the ugliest place in all of Hell, where there is no fire but ice, a symbol of hatred and desperation. And according to Dante, it is there that those who harm women end up and it is right that this is the case because violence against women is not just a problem for women. It is us men that we must change and make change those who still consider themselves owners of the body and soul of women and are not willing to recognize her sacrosanct freedom to love whoever she wants and marry whoever she wants. Dante had a very modern conception of woman. It is the woman who saves the man. When Dante gets lost in the Dark Forest he creates a chain of women to save him" explains Cazzullo.
The second episode features The Charm of Evil investigated through the physiognomy of devils and the meeting with Filippo Argenti, Vanni Fucci and Bocca degli Abati.
The third episode will be dedicated to the Destiny of the Powerful, followed by The Strength of Women and A journey to Italy which reveals an unexpected 'geographer' Dante.
The Thirst for Discovery closes the series.
"My favorite is the one dedicated to the powerful. People did not understand Dante's great courage in denouncing all the filth and betrayals committed within the great power bubble of those years. Dante's is the most ethically evocative writing that there is. It's a bit like the Gospels" says the actor and adds: "with Cazzullo we discover the enormous love and millimetric knowledge that Dante had of our country".
"With Preziosi we revive the great tradition of the Lecture Dantis which has reached the present day thanks also to great actors: Albertazzi, Gassman, Carmelo Bene, Vittorio Sermonti, Roberto Benigni. I also went on a tour describing Dante, with Piero Pelù reading Dante's verses " underlines Cazzullo.
"I cried hearing and listening to Gassman. I was moved. However, I address a different audience, I am clearer and less self-referential" says the actor.
A second series of Dante, the voice that speaks about us?
"If they made the second series of Elisa di Rivombrosa they can do this too! Jokes aside, I hope that the viewer can recognize themselves and allow us to do it again. It would be interesting even with more actors" underlines Preziosi who is also finishing the documentary Waiting for King Lear. Michelangelo Pistoletto which has as its theme the relationship between father and children and what it means to inherit in life.
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