The lawyer Ninni Panzera died this afternoon at the Messina Polyclinic, after a short hospitalization. With him goes one of the men who built the cultural life of this part of Sicily: from 1987 to 2021 he was the general secretary of Taormina Arte, and before that, in Messina, he was the man of the Saletta Milani.
The three homelands
He loved to define himself as “son of three homelands”. The first was Palizzi, in the province of Reggio Calabria, where he was born and where as a child he had pushed aside the curtain of the town cinema while holding his father’s hand: from that moment, he said, he had never recovered. The second was Messina, where he had arrived in the seventies as one of the many Calabrian students of the Strait University and where he graduated in law. The third was Taormina, where he would end up spending his life.
He said he spent years lurking, half-hidden among the bricks of the Ancient Theatre, watching what effect the shows he had helped to build had on the stage. He had started practicing law in earnest, but it wasn’t enough for him: he said he felt “something here, in his stomach”.
The room in Piazza Duomo
Before the Ancient Theatre, however, there was a room. Panzera was among the founders of the Milani club and wanted to build, a stone’s throw from Piazza Duomo, a small hall – the Saletta Milani – which for two decades was the point of reference for Messina cinephiles. Werner Herzog, Peter Greenaway, Edgar Reitz passed through that screen. In 1995, again in Milani, the Messina Film Festival was born, dedicated to young Italian cinema: six editions until 2001, and an importance that went far beyond the borders of the city.
Thirty-four years in Taormina
Arte arrived in Taormina in 1987, as a contract expert, and became its organizational hub. He remained there until his retirement in July 2021. In saying goodbye he recalled the Lohengrin by Giuseppe Sinopoli, the Liolà by Gigi Proietti, the conductors he had seen go on that stage – Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Muti, Maazel. But he also remembered the lean years, those in which the foundation risked closing: he called them “crossing the desert”, and proudly said that he had kept the bar straight.
The last creature
Retirement didn’t stop him. In 2023 he brought the Messina festival back to life in a new form, dedicated to the relationship between cinema and opera: an idea that earned him entry into the Music Film Festival Network, the European network of musical film festivals, as the fifteenth event. In 2024 he was appointed president of the Cinema and Audiovisual grouping of the Cna Sicily.
He collected posters. On Giuseppe Tornatore, he said, he had everything: in Los Angeles and Seoul he had curated two international exhibitions on New Cinema Paradiso. He had fallen in love with cinema as a child, in a village theater. He never recovered from it.
The Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation remembers Ninni Panzera: “For forty years, protagonist of the history of our institution”
The Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation expresses deep condolences for the passing of Ninni Panzera, a historical figure of Taormina Arte, to whom he dedicated over forty years of his professional life, contributing significantly to the growth, prestige and affirmation of the event in the national and international cultural panorama. With his work, his vision and his tireless dedication he accompanied some of the most significant pages in the history of the organisation, helping to make it a point of reference in the world of entertainment and culture.
«With Ninni Panzera – we read in the note – one of the personalities who most marked the history of Taormina Arte disappears. For over forty years he has been an essential point of reference for the Institution, putting expertise, passion, organizational ability and a vision at the service of culture that has contributed to making Taormina Arte an excellence recognized far beyond the borders of Sicily. His name will remain inextricably linked to the great successes of the Festival and to the growth of an institution that today owes him a lot. The Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation is profoundly grateful to him for the cultural and human legacy he leaves: a man who lived Taormina Arte as a home, dedicating much of his human and professional journey to it. His dedication remains a precious example for all of us. We extend our most sincere condolences and affectionate closeness to his family and loved ones”, jointly declare the Superintendent of the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation Felice Panebianco and the Extraordinary Commissioner Bernardo Campo.
The Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation joins in the pain of family, friends and the entire cultural community in the memory of a man who dedicated his life to Taormina Arte, contributing decisively to writing its history and consolidating its prestige in the Italian and international cultural panorama.
The Messina International Film Festival remembers Ninni Panzera
The Artistic Director, Francesco Cannavà, the Production Director, Davide Liotta, the Scientific Committee chaired by Franco Cicero and composed of Nino Genovese, Cettina Donato, Dario Tomasello and Federico Vitella together with the entire organization of the Messina International Film Festival “express deep condolences for the passing of Ninni Panzera and join with sincere participation in the pain of his family”.
“Protagonist of the cinematic and cultural life of Messina over the last forty years – we read in the note – Ninni Panzera has left an indelible mark thanks to the foundation of the Cineclub Saletta Milani and the Messina Film Festival, contributing significantly to the diffusion of cinema culture in our city.
On Wednesday 29 July, as part of the reborn International Film Festival of Messina, the presentation of the «Regina del Peloro» Award was scheduled, in recognition of her extraordinary activity, together with the screening of the trailer of the latest edition of the Messina Cinema & Opera Film Festival.
The Artistic Director announces that one of the evenings of the Festival will be dedicated to the memory of Ninni Panzera, to pay homage to a man who dedicated his life to the promotion of cinema and culture in Messina.
Its cultural legacy will continue to represent a point of reference for future generations and for all those who believe in the value of cinema as a community heritage.”