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The director Gianfranco Pedullà, Calabrian born in Crotone, founder of the Mascarà Teatro company, which later became Teatro Popolare d’Arte, committed to theater as inclusion, died a few days after turning 69.
The condolences of the Tuscany Region
«A leading protagonist of Tuscan theater and culture» recalled the President of the Region Eugenio Giani. «He was a person of extraordinary charisma – he added – and of uncommon love for the theatre; it constituted a reference for all the theaters in Tuscany because it managed to interpret the values of the diffusion of theater among the people and in civil society. It is a very serious loss for Tuscan culture.”
From the Theater of Arts to the Gorgona prison
Pedullà – who has directed the Teatro delle Arti in Lastra a Signa since 2010 and was involved in social theater and theater in prison with the «Il Teatro del Mare» project in the Gorgona prison – died during the night in the Chiarugi nursing home in Empoli where he had been hospitalized for over a year due to the consequences of the serious road accident in which he was involved in July 2025.
«He trained generations of artists and spectators»
«I got to know Gianfranco very well and he was a person of great reference in the theatrical and cultural world of all of Tuscany. I remember that, while still a teenager – explained Giani – he managed to bring bands like the Whiskey Trail to the Scandicci high school. And he dedicated a large part of his life to theater and the diffusion of culture. With the Teatro Popolare d’Arte and the Teatro delle Arti of Lastra a Signa he gave life to important experiences, training generations of artists and spectators. I also want to remember him for his commitment to social theater and prison, and for the extraordinary work achieved in Gorgona.”
«On behalf of the Tuscany Region – underlined the president – I express my most sincere condolences to the family, friends and the entire community of Tuscan theater and culture».
The memory of family and company
«With great sorrow we announce the loss of our dear Gianfranco Pedullà, man of theatre, director, intellectual, writer, curious about life, companion, father and wonderful brother»: this is what his wife Fabiola, his sons Mattia and Zeno and the entire Pedullà family said. A pain that was also joined by the Teatro Popolare d’Arte that the director helped to create.
«Founder of the Popular Art Theater and its historic director, Gianfranco – recalled the director Francesco Giorgio – was much more than this for all of us: a presence, a master, a traveling companion, a man capable of transmitting ideas, passion and an inexhaustible vital spirit. That vital spirit, as of tonight, is no longer here with us. At this moment it is difficult to find other words.”
The funeral on Saturday in Poppiano
The burial, with a civil ceremony, will be held on Saturday 22 August at 10 am at the Poppiano cemetery.