From a place of confinement for intellectuals and dissidents to a real “citadel of culture and inclusion”. It happens in Lipari where, on Saturday evening, at the end of the PNRR project of the Archaeological Park of the Aeolian Islands of the Sicilian Region, directed by Rosario Vilardo, the Outdoor Theater of the Castle of Lipari hosted the classical tragedy “Prometheus chained” of Aeschylus.
In the role of the protagonist Christian Poggioni, who signed the direction, welcomed by a long and warm applause of the audience, very enthusiastic about the presence of classic shows in the wonderful theater of stone that looks at the sea.
An original production, in the direction of the experimental and research theater, in which the actors have worn the masks reproduced by the digitization of the finds of the Luigi Bernabò Brea Museum of Lipari, a process aimed at creating tactile copies for the blind and partially sighted tactile copies. “A bet won – comments Elisabetta Matelli, historian of the Antico Theater (Unicott, Milan) and author of dramaturgy – because we wanted to demonstrate whether the archaeological finding, in this case the masks of the necropolis of Lipari, reported to real measure could involve the public and therefore confirm its function not only ritual but also theatrical”.
In the cast of Eschilo’s “Prometheus chained” also Lorenzo Volpi Lutheri, Eri Cakalli, Margherita Rigamondi and, in the choir of the Oceanines Benedetta Drago, Francesca Ferrari, Annachiara Formica, Francesca Redaelli, Arianna Sangiuliano; Scene Dino Serra, costumes Stefania Parisini O’Brien, music Adriano Sanguineti. Masks: Francesco Stilo for digital surveys and natural modeling, Andrea Cavarra and Chiara Barlassina for artisan reconstruction. The show, produced by the “Kerkís. Teatro Antico on stage” Association of Milan, was created with the PNRR funds of the Archaeological Park of the Aeolian Islands and Prin funds (research projects of significant national interest) of the Catholic University of Milan.
The “Prometheus” at the theater with the museum masks – and the timeless fascination of the classic theater – has therefore ideally concluded the PNRR of the Archaeological Park of the Aeolian Islands in Lipari: “From the Museum to the theater”, a project drawn up by Maria Clara Martinelli, archaeologist of the park, designed to open the museum and its spaces also to visitors with motor disabilities, vision and hearing. To welcome them since last Saturday it was the brand new multisensory laboratory, built in one of the most spectacular buildings in the park, hanging on the sea as the bow of a ship.
Inside, paradigmatic of the Lipari museum collection – a 70 -year -old jewel that tells life in the Aeolian Islands starting from prehistory with a very rich collection of classic era – is a collection of 35 tactile finds in Pla (polylactic acid) all to touch and with captions in Braille, Lis (Italian language of the signs), Italian and English. And again: three videos with digital animations and storytelling in Lis who since the first hours of opening to the public have conquered young and old, digital totems with the map of the various buildings – precious support dedicated to autistic visitors – tablets to download the app (usable with a QR code) and masks to experience the visit to the dark in a specially obscured room.
Among the innovations included in the PNRR project also two Golf Cars that will soon be available to visitors with reduced mobility directed to the museum, the bookshop and the cafeteria – with spectacular terrace attached, shaded by olive trees and citrus fruits – which will be management to third parties.
“Knowledge is a civil law – explained the director Rosario Vilardo – for this reason as a museum we asked ourselves the question not only of access to the places of culture, but also of the adoption of languages and narrative techniques that could involve and include new and important segments of the public. And in this the project financed by the PNRR has been of great support by enriching the offer of one of the most extraordinary museums of the national heritage”.
To complicate things, in Lipari, is the same location as the museum, perched on a promontory. “A difficult access for a museum distributed on multiple buildings – comments the archaeologist and editor of the PNRR project, Maria Clara Martinelli – but which we now make more accessible both in terms of mobility with electric cars, and with dedicated languages (Braille and Lis) and new educational supports thanks to digital technologies”.
To precede the inauguration of the multisensory laboratory and the show “Prometheus” was an intense study day on the theme of “Digital Humanities”, or of the technologies applied to cultural heritage, the teaching of art and in general to humanistic research with a profitable multidisciplinary comparison between university teachers and researchers (archaeologists, architects, historians of art, philologists, IT engineers) foreigners.
On the occasion of the inauguration, the volunteers of Italia Nostra (Melilli Section) welcomed visitors to the Bookshop who in recent months, among other publications, have settled the proceeds of the conference dedicated to Luigi Bernabò Brea, the great archaeologist who is registered in the museum and who together with the French colleague Madeleine Cavalier has dedicated a good part of his life to the Aeolian and their ancient history.
The project “From the Museum to the Teatro” of the Archaeological Park of the Aeolian Islands of the Sicilian Region, financed by the PNRR with about 500 thousand euros and developed in collaboration with the Catholic University of Milan; The Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria and the Naos Lab company (company specialized in ICT services that operates between Salerno, Catanzaro and Rome) which has edited all digital processing. The scientific coordination is by Maria Clara Martinelli Archaeologist of the Aeolian park, Francesca Fatto, professor of architecture design (UniC) and Elisabetta Matelli, professor of History of the Greek Theater (Unicott).
Archeology: the news of the Lipari Museum for the blind and deaf
The heart of the PNRR project of the Aeolian archaeological park is the multisensory laboratory set up on the ground floor of the first building of the museum complex of the Castle of Lipari. Here visitors are welcomed in an exhibition space with 35 tactile reproductions made in Pla (polylactic acid, material used in 3D printing). Including: 26 masks of the comedy and tragedy obtained from the miniatures exhibited in the museum and coming from the funeral equipment found in the Necropolis of Contrada Diana since the middle of the last century and the subject of numerous excavation campaigns coordinated by the great archaeologists Luigi Bernabò Brea and by Madeleine Cavalier; Six statuettes, two vases of prehistoric cultures and a red figure penthouse crater. All these prototypes, faithfully made thanks to the reliefs with laser scanner, are completed by trilingual captions: Italian, English and Braille. The 3 totem route complete with the map of the buildings of the castle, the accessibility of the individual floors and the chronological map of the excavations, which began here on 20 October 1950. Also here in Italian, English, LIS and with spear text for the blind; three videos with thematic storytelling; Finally, a QR code to download the app that accompanies visitors also with a video with the audiovisual description of the finds and contained in LIS. An area has been intended for the bookshop and the cafeteria which will be managed to third parties while among the news for the “special visitors” with reduced mobility elevators and stairlifts have been renewed according to the most recent regulations, platforms to facilitate access to the plans; Signs and maps in Braille in the outdoor area and two electric golfs to reach the museum.
The collection: History of the masks of the Archaeological Museum of Lipari
The theatrical terracotta were the subject of an important study by Luigi Bernabò Brea (between 1981 and 2001), still considered to be of fundamental scientific relevance. The scholar personally took care of the choice of the finds and their location in the windows of the Lipari Museum entitled to him by creating a scenographic path enriched also by miniatures of theatrical stages.
The collection consists of numerous specimens of statuettes and masks attributable to the theatrical genres in use at the time: tragedy, satirical drama, comedy. The terracotta come, mostly, from the funerary accompanies of the Tombs of Contrada Diana and from the votive votes located in the area of the necropolis. These are miniature reproductions of the masks that the actors carried on the face during the acting both to amplify the tone of the voice, and to interpret the different roles assigned to them, including female ones. Next to the masks include statuettes of dance and dancers, comic actors, jugglers as well as satirians and silenes, faithful and cheerful companions of Dionysus