Matera the heart of the Mediterranean
The images, sounds and colours of journeys and of the Mediterranean as a historic and cultural archipelago were at the centre of the event “Peoples en route” – the seventh stage taking us closer and closer to 2019.
On the 19th of July, the street performance by Pipototal hypnotized the city with an extraordinary show – something between the aura of an old tome about magic and the colourful theatrical performances typical of street art.
A series of gigantic original machines inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings gave life to an exceptional itinerant show in the streets of Matera’s city centre with a physical sort of comedy, excentricity and improvisation – a captivating event that made people come out into the streets to enjoy the mix of extravagance and vaudeville.
The rhythm of music from the Balkans at Piazza San Giovanni got the afternoon performances started. Then, via Del Corso and via Ridola set the stage for a show that lit up the night, conjugating music, poetry and circus art. A mechanical allegory of a company of artists made up of farcical characters speaking a language that was at times incomprehensible; however, the acrobatic poetry of their bodies managed to convey feelings, taking pathways far away from clichés.
The eventful day began at the “Ex Ospedale San Rocco” with the inauguration of the “Corso di Alti Studi Mediterranei” (Course of Advanced Mediterranean Studies) of the Jacques Maritain International Institute and came to a conclusion with singer-composer Eugenio Bennato in a splendid evening during which the notes of “taranta power” once again evoked the Mediterranean as a place of exploration, knowledge and art treasures.
