PIETRASANTA - 45th La Versiliana Festival (2024)

PIETRASANTA - 45th La Versiliana Festival (1)

Imagine a theater. Remove the walls… immerse it in greenery. Marina di Pietrasanta, Versilia, Lucca, July-August 2024

“Imagine a theater. Remove the walls... immerse it in greenery": with this imaginative title that enhances the beauty and uniqueness of the location, the 45th edition of the La Versiliana Festival presents itself by putting its distinctive landscape features back at the center and celebrates its majestic refinement immersed in the lush coastal nature of Pietrasanta, with an intense, very rich and high artistic profile program of shows that will take place throughout the summer.

51 evenings of entertainment, 565 artists involved, a 2-seat audience ready to welcome the public, 3 different stages: these are the numbers of the 45th La Versiliana Festival which will open on July 13th and will continue for almost 60 consecutive days until end of August, giving life to a theatrical program with a multifaceted and multidisciplinary character created by the artistic consultant Massimo Martini, which will be accompanied by the famous "Meetings at the Caffè de La Versiliana", contemporary art exhibitions and the exhibition for children "La Versiliana of the Little Ones."

Performing in the large open-air theater framed in the lush pine forest of Marina di Pietrasanta will be the most important protagonists of the show, great dance companies, songwriters, showmen, crossing the most diverse genres: from prose, to dance, to music, to contemporary circus, to musicals.

Mayor Giovannetti

“This year too the Festival program does not disappoint expectations – thus the mayor of Pietrasanta, Alberto Stefano Giovannetti – and is confirmed among the highest quality events of the summer in Pietrasanta. I welcome with particular satisfaction, and I thank President Benedetti and his staff for their availability, the "Versiliana Contemporary Theatre", a more contemporary declination of prose, dance and theater offered to the public of the historic center, on the natural stage of the Barsanti Garden: three years ago it was a great novelty, today it is already a consolidated reality not only for the Festival program but for the summer entertainment proposal that our city presents to guests and citizens."

President Benedetti

“Packaging the Versiliana program – explains the president of the Alfredo Benedetti Foundation – it is a sartorial and painstaking work to which, together with the artistic consultant Martini and the entire CDG of the Foundation, we have dedicated great effort and attention, pursuing our primary mission of promoting and enhancing culture and live entertainment. In recent years La Versiliana has in fact returned to being a festival recognized and accredited by the Ministry of Culture, thanks to the quality of its cultural offering. But since I took office we have paid particular attention to the details of the environment and the care of the spaces, to offer visitors a Versiliana always at its maximum splendor, enjoyable even just for a walk through the avenues and gardens of the park and we are particularly proud of this today.”

The consultant Martini

“The Versiliana Festival – explains Massimo Martini, artistic consultant of the Festival – has always been a point of reference for culture and entertainment, a stage where art, music, theater and literature come together in a unique setting that is our park. This year too I have worked with passion to offer a program capable of satisfying the tastes of an increasingly wider audience. The Festival hosts highly renowned artists, but also gives space to emerging talents, because I firmly believe that the future of culture is also built through the support and valorization of new generations and new genres, including multidisciplinary ones.”

To celebrate the summer, the festival season promoted and organized by the Versiliana Foundation under the aegis of the Municipality of Pietrasanta, will be inaugurated with an exceptional concert by the Banda Musicale della Marina Militare, 102 elements, among the oldest and most prestigious band ensembles Italian military personnel, an event scheduled for 13 July at 21.30pm, strongly desired by the President of the Versiliana Foundation Alfredo Benedetti, offered free of charge to the entire public and preceded by a day of meetings dedicated to the theme of the sea in which representatives of local institutions and the highest political and military positions.

Laughter, lightness and satire

In the 2024 programme, comedy will be present in a strong and incisive way for a summer of light-heartedness. The protagonists are the greats of laughter such as Andrea Pucci (16 and 17.08), established artists such as Max Angioni (20.07) and new, but already highly appreciated talents such as the Tuscan Jonathan Canini (30.07), the debutant Shamzy, also Tuscan and little more that twenty-year-old who is very popular on social media (26.07), the stand up comedian Francesco De Carlo (1.08), the artist from Lodi Filippo Caccamo (3.08), the funniest couple on social media, Casa Abis on 8.08, the Ligurian comedian Antonio Ornano (20.08), Paolo Ruffini with his new show “Il Babysitter” on 22.08 and Chiara Anicito who will bring “Cammela and the group of mothers” to the stage on 25.08 with which she is very popular on the web.

There is also space for political satire with Marco Travaglio's show “The best damages of our life” (29.07), and with the irreverent and beyond limits Giuseppe Cruciani in “via Crux. Everything you think and don't have the courage to say”, on stage on August 24th.

Without forgetting important topics and dissemination

However, the program will also include more committed and profound moments of reflection with the criminologist Roberta Bruzzone (28.07) who will bring her "Nightmare Tales" to the stage. Journey into deadly affective manipulation” and with the psychologist Paolo Crepet with his “Biting the sky” (7.08),

There will also be moments of dissemination with the linguistic intelligence expert Paolo Borzacchiello “Be careful how you speak” (6.08), with the prof. Italy's most beloved physics professor, Vincenzo Schettini "The physics we like" (12.08) and with the philosopher Professor Umberto Galimberti (27.08) "When life was regulated by the heart: emotions and feelings in the age of technology".

All music – from pop to classical

Concerts and music will also be present this season with great singer-songwriters and many big names in music such as Jack Savoretti (31.07), Ermal Meta (11.08), Massimo Ranieri (14.08), Francesco De Gregori (21.08), Fiorella Mannoia (23.08) and Silvia Midnight engaged in a concert recital in homage to Mina (4.08).

Also on the program is the musical Flashdance (19.08) and two great musical classics of all time such as Bolero and Carmina Burana performed by a majestic ensemble made up of 200 musicians including orchestra and choir directed by Giacomo Loprieno (Ensemble Symphony Orchestra & Choir on 5. 08).

Great performers, between theatre, small and big screen

Also on the bill are very popular actors such as Paolo Briguglia, protagonist of “Un amore” from the novel by Dino Buzzati (15.07), Giovanni Scifoni with his show dedicated to Saint Francis (17.7) of which part of the proceeds will go to the Foundation oncology radiotherapy onlus, Chiara Francini with her show “Forte e Chiara” (25.07) and Monica Guerritore (“La sera della prima” (13.08).

A dancing festival

Dance will be present in the program in an incisive manner with the most important Italian dance companies and international étoiles such as the famous Spanish dancer Sergio Bernal (24.07) who will return to Versiliana for a hot night of flamenco. International dancers also with the event “The stars of tomorrow” (14.07) which will involve the best graduates of the most prestigious European schools directed for the occasion by Alessio Carbone. Also on the program are important Italian companies such as the Balletto di Roma with "Swan Lake, or singing" (22.07) with Roberta De Simone and the choreographies of Fabrizio Monteverde, the Balletto del Sud with its hymn to the Paris of the Belle Époque " Gaîté Parisienne” (18.8) with the choreographies of Fredy Franzutti and like the Balletto di Milano which after many years of absence returns to the Versiliana for two evenings: on 27 July with “Aria Tango/Bolero”, two one-act plays, the first co-produced with the Versiliana, with the choreographies of the great Micha van Hoeke revived by Miki Matsuse and the second with the choreographies of Adriana Mortelliti, then returning again in August with “Carmen” (9.08) with the choreographies of Agnese Omodei Salè and Federico Veratti.

“Versiliana Contemporary Theatre” - in the Barsanti Garden (Cloister of Sant'Agostino)

The Versiliana will also move this year from the Marina to the historic center of Pietrasanta, where for the third consecutive year it will propose "Versiliana Contemporary Theatre", a festival section dedicated to contemporary entertainment in the evocative setting of the Barsanti Garden inside the Cloister of Sant'Agostino .

Here from 29 July to 23 August there will be 14 shows alternating between contemporary prose, contemporary dance and nouveau cirque, in an eclectic series, capable of ranging from image theater constructed without the use of words to more involved texts.

Opening this section will be the show “(S)touchy. Four crazy laughs about male infertility” by and with Antonello Taurino on 29 July and it is worth mentioning the return of the extraordinary quartet of Ukrainian mimes Dekru in the show “Virtual reality, physical theater for digital times” by Liubov Cherepakhina” (2.08).

The dance will be divided into 4 shows: on July 30th the national premiere of Versiliadanza with "Humanity" choreography by Leonardo Diana, on August 1st "Reflexo" by Keos Dance Project also in the national premiere, a Versiliana/9 Muse co-production, with choreography by Stefano Puccinelli; on August 9th “Emotional Connections” by Welldance & Blound, and on August 10th “Rapsody in blue white and black” by Roma City Ballet Company by Luciano Cannito with choreography by Milena Zullo.

For the prose, in addition to the inauguration show, the following will be on stage: "Find a good one, or what does he have in mind?" (3.08) with Fabio Canino and Andrea Muzzi directed by Stefano Messina; “Memories of a madman” (6.08) by Roberto Lerici with Andrea Buscemi, “Novecento” (8.08) by Alessandro Baricco by and with Stefano Messina; “For futile reasons” (12.08) in the national premiere with Carlotta Proietti and Ermenegildo Marciante, directed by Marco Carniti; “Bad guys. The enchantment of the shadow: evil characters in the theater of all time" again in the national premiere with Gennaro Duccilli, Eleonora Mancini and Giordano Luci, "Le donne di Sant'Anna" (16.08) with Livia Castellana and Martina Benedetti; “An evening with Mario Tobino” (18.08) by the Tobino Foundation with Martina Benedetti and Niccolò Buscemi on the piano. Finally “Federico Garcia Lorca, the poet of freedom” by and with Ornella Giusto (23.08).

SUPPORTERS

The 45th edition of the La Versiliana Festival is supported by the Municipality of Pietrasanta, the Ministry of Culture, the Tuscany Region with Toscana Promozione Turistica, the Banca della Versilia Lunigiana and Garfa*gnana, the Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca Foundation. Sponsor: Fonteviva. Technical sponsors: Coldiretti; Media partners: Qn-La Nazione, Noi TV, Radio Bruno.

To stay updated on the meetings and all the other activities of the La Versiliana Festival, consult the website www.versilianafestival.it

Artistic consultancy StudioMartini

Marina di Pietrasanta, Versilia | July – August 2024

CHRONOLOGICAL CALENDAR OF SHOWS

Saturday 13 July – La Versiliana Theatre

Military Navy Band

Concerto

Light up the moon: notes under the stars.

- free entry-

Sunday 14 July – La Versiliana Theatre

Venice Ballet

THE STARS OF TOMORROW

Junior international gala

with the best graduates of the most prestigious European schools

Artistic direction Alessio Carbone

Monday 15 July – Spazio Caffè de La Versiliana

Paul Briguglia

A LOVE

from the novel by Dino Buzzati

directed by Alessandra Pizzi

Wednesday 17 July – La Versiliana Theatre

Giovanni Scifoni

BETWEEN'. Saint Francis, the superstar of the Middle Ages

(part of the proceeds will benefit the Oncological Radiotherapy Foundation Onlus)

Saturday 20 July – La Versiliana Theatre

Max Angioni

EVEN LESS

Monday 22 July – La Versiliana Theatre

Ballet of Rome

SWAN LAKE, OR THE SINGING

with Roberta De Simone

Choreography Fabrizio Monteverde

Wednesday 24 July – La Versiliana Theatre

Serge Bernal

UNA NOCHE WITH SERGIO BERNAL

Thursday 25 July – La Versiliana Theatre

Clare Francini

LOUD AND CLEAR

directed by Alessandro Federico

Friday 26 July – La Versiliana Theatre

Shamzy

AT MY HOME!

Saturday 27 July – La Versiliana Theatre

first national co-production

Milan Ballet

Show schedule and updates on

www.versilianafestival.it

LA VERSILIANA THEATER TICKET OFFICE

The Versiliana ticket office will open from 1 July 2024

Tel. +39 0584 265757 - biglietteria@versilianafestival.it

Versiliana Foundation – Viale Morin, 16 – Marina di Pietrasanta (LU)

Tickets for the La Versiliana Festival shows can be purchased online through: – TICKETONE on www.ticketone.it

PIETRASANTA MUNICIPAL THEATER TICKET OFFICE

The ticket office of the Teatro Comunale di Pietrasanta will be open for the purchase of tickets for the 45th La Versiliana Festival, on the following days and times:

From 23 June to 5 July: from 19.00 pm to 22.00 pm,

Monday 24 June: closed

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Instagram official: versilianafestival

Matteo Baudone

Matteo Baudone, journalist. He was born in Pietrasanta in 1984.