“When we decided to extend the performances for just a week it was due to the uncertainty of the weather: we didn’t feel like risking it, it wouldn’t have been fair to our audience. And despite this Dante’s Inferno has confirmed itself as the record-breaking blockbuster: the most seen theatrical work in Sicily in the last five years”. It is evident satisfaction of Simone Trischitta – the president of Buongiorno Sicilia who produced the show with Vision Sicily, with dramaturgy and directed by Giovanni Anfuso – in communicating the figures, now practically definitive, which confirm another triumphal season.
In the six weeks of 2023, in fact, the performances, always sold out, were seen by another ten thousand peoplethus making the show reach, since its debut in 2018, a total of 63,000 spectators. Also for these figures, as well as for the quality of the proposal, Inferno has obtained the patronage of the MiC, the Ministry of Culture, the Ars, the Department of Entertainment of the Sicilian Region, the Alcantara River Park Authority and the Municipality of Motta Camastra and has as sponsors Isola Bella Gioielli, Amaro Herbae and Bacco, a typical pistachio flavor. In the meantime, flattering opinions on Inferno have also come from numerous personalities in these last days of performances.
Like the commissioner of the Alcantara River Park Saints Found, according to which the show integrates Culture and Environment, and “represents an experience capable of involving the senses, from sight to smell, from hearing to touch, when the skin is caressed by the wind”. And it is an initiative that must be relaunched “due to the great benefits for our local area”. For Trovato, in fact, it is these shows that we must focus on: “they are bets that the whole of Sicily needs to take on, not only here, but in all the truly unique places that the island has”.
Of the same opinion Domenico Ciancio, journalist and editor, who underlined the presence in the Gole show “of the four fundamental elements of Nature: air, fire, earth and water”. “Personally,” she said, “I was thrilled by the noise that the river produces as it flows and which almost acts as a common thread to the story told. Furthermore, this Inferno makes us concretely perceive how initiatives so linked to a territory of great beauty can turn into an incredible driving force for development. And for this reason they must be protected, also by the world of information”.
He spoke of “another very successful season resulting from the synergy between the Producers, the Public Administrations and our Company”. Maurizio Vaccaro, with his brothers owner of the Alcantara Geological and Botanical Park. “We are all already working – she added – for 2024 which could be a year of further growth. Thus fulfilling one of my father’s dreams, who hoped to make the jewel that is our Valley known everywhere.”
A season, therefore, which is coming to an end, as underlined by Carmelo Blancato, mayor of Motta Camastra, “to everyone’s satisfaction”. “As a municipal administration – he stated – we are happy for the boom in spectators this year and for the presence of civil and political authorities, including national ones. We are proud of it and I hope that next year we can improve the reception even further and propose, in addition to Inferno, with its records, also new shows”.
“It’s a balm for the soul – added the director Giovanni Anfuso -, seeing our audience leave happy every evening, thanking us: it gives us the energy to start again even more motivated next year. Here at the Gole, before Covid, we had presented spectators with a list of cultured and popular texts at the same time, asking them to indicate their preferences for new texts to be staged after Inferno and Odyssey. The greatest number of people expressed their opinion in favor of Orlando furioso. And we are examining this possibility.”
Meanwhile, until tomorrow, reruns of Inferno will continue every eveningon the banks of the Alcantara river, there will still be thunderous applause for the actorswho are, in order of appearance, Liliana Randi (Narrator), Francesco Bonaccorso (Tourist and Charon), Angelo D’Agosta (Dante), Salvo Piro (Virgil), Giovanna Mangiù (Francesca da Rimini, Messo dal Cielo), Davide Pandolfo (Ciacco), Luca Fiorino (Farinata degli Uberti), Rosario Minardi (Ulysses), Davide Sbrogiò (Ugolino), Gabriele D’Astoli (Paolo, Diomede, Archbishop Ruggeri). The damned instead they are Beatrice Caudullo, Manuela Grimaldi, Marta Marino, Valeria Mazzaglia, Enrica Pandolfo, Davide Peluso, Alfio Raiti, Lucio Rapisarda, Francesco Rizzo and Gloria Trischitta. The choreography are by Fia Di Stefano, the costumes by Riccardo Cappello, the music by Nello Toscano and the special effects by Alfredo Vaccalluzzo. Mention should also be made of Simone Trischitta, who takes care of the general organisation, the assistant director Agnese Failla, the assistant director Lucia Rotondo, the light designer Davide La Colla and the sound designer Enzo Valenti.
The stage photos are by Santo Consoli and Giuseppe Mazzola.