le letture della normale

The "letture della Normale"

Every year, the students of the Scuola Normale organise a collective reading dedicated to a masterpiece of Italian or world literature: students, teachers, citizens of all ages contribute their voices to the public reading of a book in its entirety. Over the years, the city has read and listened to the Divine Comedy, I Promessi Sposi, Orlando Furioso, the Canti and Leopardi's Operette Morali.

For the past two years, the Readings have been preceded by a week of meetings and in-depth studies on the author and the work to be read: itinerant lessons around the city that tell literature to everyone, everywhere.

During the spring of 2020, in the middle of the lockdown, the organizers proposed a remote reading of the Decameron: a "merry band" of over 450 readers from all over the world took turns in reading the hundred novellas, for a total of two months of online events, and over 200 hours of reading that could be accessed entirely on the Normale's YouTube channel. The experience also led to the online album Dieci canzoni. Boccaccio, Decameron, in which some of the protagonists of the Italian independent music scene gave life to a work that spans genres, ages and musical tastes.