It is a project of Matera 2019, co-produced by the Matera-Basilicata 2019 Foundation and the Ravenna Festival/ Alighieri Theater, with the support of the Municipality of Matera and the Municipality of Ravenna, in collaboration with Teatro delle Albe/ RavennaTeatro, artistic direction, devised and directed by Ermanna Montanari and Marco Martinelli

MATERA - from May 17th to June 2nd

RAVENNA (as part of the Ravenna Festival) - from June 25th to July 14th

Marco Martinelli and Ermanna Montanari have taken up the challenge of transforming into theater the Divine Comedy, the masterpiece that gave rise to the Italian language. The work is conceived halfway between the sacred medieval representation and the mass theater of Mayakovsky: the city as a whole is the stage, and citizens take part to make themselves “a place” in the era of "non-places" and dispersed communities. The work shines with a choral character and spectators make the journey in the otherworldly realms: each one of them is Dante. It is the whole humanity that makes this journey, as Ezra Pound suggests, defining Dante "Everyman".

The path of Marco Martinelli and Ermanna Montanari begins in the wake of Dante in 2017 with Inferno (created and directed by them, commissioned by Ravenna Festival) – a project divided into three biennial steps of staging the three Cantiche of the Divine Comedy which will culminate in 2021 (700th anniversary of the poet's death) along with Ravenna Festival and, for the final part, also with Timisoara 2021 European Capital of Culture. Fedeli d'amore- Polittico in sette quadri per Dante Alighieri (also devised and directed by Martinelli and Montanari in 2018) is an original scenic poem by Martinelli where the author’s single voice makes countless others play. The concert evokes the death of the poet in 1321, to draw on the radical nature of his ethical-aesthetic vision in the present time. Moreover, the publishing house “Ponte alle Grazie“ has just published Nel nome di Dante (In the name of Dante) by Marco Martinelli in which, together with the words of Dante and the tales of his time, the author blends personal memories with more recent and contemporary events to form a personal and original journey that sinks into the re-reading of the Comedy revived by the theater.

"A European capital of culture could not forget a universal poet like Dante. Especially in preparation for the forthcoming 700th anniversary of his death, scheduled for 2021 and above all for the fruitful relations with Ravenna, which, like us, was among the shortlisted cities. This project - affirms Paolo Verri, general manager of the Matera Basilicata 2019 Foundation - encompasses the main contents of the entire cultural program. Emphasis is placed on some key words such as citizen participation, the past become present, the stage turned into an urban space, actors made community. We strongly wanted the "Purgatory" also because we are convinced that this kind of cultural production can really give a sense of being together and help city dwelleres live more creative processes. I thank the Municipalities of Matera and Ravenna for supporting the project ".