Special Italo Calvino
Image: Giulio Paolini, Untitled, 2002. Private collection © Giulio Paolini. Photo courtesy of the Giulio and Anna Paolini Foundation, Turin
A hundred years after the birth of Italo Calvino, the Scuola Normale is celebrating this great author with a full programme of events in collaboration with four of the most important Tuscan theatre companies: Accademia Mutamenti, Arca Azzurra, Lombardi-Tiezzi, and Sacchi di Sabbia.
The first stage was a cycle of four lecture-shows for secondary schools, which were held at the Palazzo della Carovana in Pisa: a special edition of the programme of La Normale a scuola entirely dedicated to Calvino. On the left, you will find the links to the recordings.
The second stage is scheduled to take place at the Palazzo Strozzi site in Florence: this stage will also be arranged in four lecture-shows, lecturers side by side with actors and actresses bringing to life for us Calvino's most beautiful pages, in a compelling interweaving of readings, in-depth analysis and comments.
The lectures will be held in person at the Sala l’Altana of Palazzo Strozzi, the Florence site of the Scuola Normale Superiore, and will be transmitted in streaming on the Scuola Normale YouTube channel. Participation in the lectures is free of charge and open to all those interested (the public, schools etc.). To take part in one or more of the lectures in person with your class, simply book at the link reachable by clicking on the title(s) of the meeting(s) you wish to attend.
The lectures are part of Officina Teatro/Letteratura, a project of synergy between the Scuola Normale Superiore, Accademia Mutamenti, Arca Azzurra, Lombardi-Tiezzi and Sacchi di Sabbia.
The lectures in Florence have the benefit of a contribution by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.
Programme of events
24 October 2023 - 16.30 – 18.00
Silvio Perrella – Writer, literary critic
Intervista impossibile a Calvino (Impossible interview with Calvino)
with Annibale Pavone e Beatrice Visibelli (Compagnia Lombardi Tiezzi)
15 November 2023 – 16.30 – 18.00
Rodolfo Sacchettini – Writer, theatre critic
Calvino e le macchine pensanti (Calvino and the thinking machines)
with Giovanni Guerrieri (I Sacchi di Sabbia)
22 November 2023 – 16.30 – 18.00
Serenella Iovino – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Gli animali di Calvino (Calvino's animals)
with Sara Donzelli (Accademia Mutamenti)
24 November 2023 – 16.30 – 18.00
Daniela Brogi – Università per Stranieri di Siena (University for Foreigners of Siena)
Calvino e le donne (Calvino and women)
with Lucia Socci (Arca Azzurra)
The lectures programme for the first stage was as follows:
13 April, 10-11.30: Niccolò Scaffai, Calvino and ecology, with Sara Donzelli - Accademia Mutamenti.
17 April, 10-11.30: Domenico Scarpa, The beginning of the universe, the beginning of man, with Massimo Salvianti - Compagnia Arca Azzurra.
21 April, 10-11.30: Silvio Perrella, Impossible interview with Calvino, with Annibale Pavone e Beatrice Visibelli - Compagnia Lombardi Tiezzi
28 April, 10-11.30: Massimo Bucciantini, A cannon shot: unity and multiplicity in Italo Calvino, with Giovanni Guerrieri - I Sacchi di Sabbia.
The lessons are part of Officina Teatro/Letteratura, a synergy project between Scuola Normale Superiore, Accademia Mutamenti, Arca Azzurra, Lombardi-Tiezzi, Sacchi di Sabbia.