Racconti per Ricominciare - The Sunset Tales Theatre Festival
Created and realized by Vesuvioteatro, "Racconti per Ricominciare" is a multi-venue eco-friendly performing arts festival that takes place in National Cultural Heritage of South of Italy. During the Festival, some of the most evocative locations in Campania are transformed into natural theaters for site-specific performances staged at sunset, in perfect symbiosis both with ancient architectures and natural landscapes.
Recognized as National Theatre Festival by Italian Ministry of Culture.
National
Croatia
Region:
Campania
Municipalities:
Portici
San Giorgio a Cremano
Ercolano
Torre del Greco
Castellammare di Stabia
Massa Lubrense
Pozzuoli
Sorrento
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-06-12
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Vesuvioteatro Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Francesca Last name of representative: Liguoro Gender: Female Nationality: Italy Function: Marketing & Fundraising Manager Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Corso Garibaldi 28 Town: Portici Postal code: 80055 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+393335691511 E-mail:marketing@vesuvioteatro.org Website:https://www.vesuvioteatro.org
RACCONTI PER RICOMINCIARE - THE SUNSET TALES THEATRE FESTIVAL is a multi-venue eco-friendly performing arts festival that takes place in National Cultural Heritage in Campania, South of Italy.
KEY FEATURES:
1) We give life to a dozen of theatrical site-specific performances, staged in open-air areas (botanical gardens, Italian gardens, terraces, meadows, woods, cloisters...) of 12 Heritage sites in Campania for ten days (120 performances in total) to create a multisensorial aesthetic and artistic experience. It is a green festival, it is mainly realized without electronic equipment and/or artificial lights, each performance is immersed in the natural light of the sunset and the sound of the environment.
2) The festival encourages the discovery of those Heritage sites which are not always accessible and not always considered in the routes of tourism. Some of them are often closed, others are very hidden in rundown little towns or in remote places.
3) Performances are mainly based on short dramas written by contemporary authors. Many monologues are commissioned by the Artistic Direction and written for the festival, others are selected and adapted from existing unpublished or published dramas chosen among the most interesting voices of the Italian and European contemporary dramaturgy and literature.
4) We work in Campania, a place featured by social suffering and economic depression, characterized by an almost total absence of theaters, music halls, movie theaters, art galleries and even public libraries. The local population cannot take advantage of an adequate cultural offer to overcome marginalization episodes, in addition local economic development depressed. RACCONTI PER RICOMINCIARE is vital event that promotes cultural development and generates an economical armature for the local business, also thanks to a a very inexpensive ticket (from 8€ to 10€ for a 60minute performance, including the entrance to the cultural site).
performing arts
heritage
Campania
sustainability
dramaturgy
On our time, theatre and performing arts are invited to meet the Agenda 2030 goals and join the fight against climate change.
RACCONTI PER RICOMINCIARE - THE SUNSET TALES THEATRE FESTIVAL is a green festival: it is mainly realized without electronic equipment and/or artificial lights and without scenography or set designs: each performance is immersed in the natural light of the sunset and in the sound of the environment. In this way we wish to take up one of the most important challenges of our time and reach the Agenda 2030 goal: Protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of the earth's ecosystem. As a consequence, artistic directors, performers, artists, spectators, organizational staff members must deal with this. We conceive the entire project as physically modulated on each particular heritage site, and each site dictates the terms of every single performance creation: it limits and, at the same time, stimulates new ideas for the creating process.
In addition we work with local artists who do not need to travel by train or by plane to join the Festival.
What happens when a choir of frogs decide to take part in a theatre perfomance?
Let me explain this, please.
Our festival aims to give life to a creative inspirational process throughout an immersive artistic and poetic experience that takes place in our heritage sites, where the power of Nature is strictly connected with the History, Arts, Beauty and Greatness.
Every day, during the Festival, the arrival of people is propped up by ordinary habits - reservations and purchases, google map researches, information telephone calls....necessary and ritual actions that tells us that everything is ok, everything is predictable and ueverything is under control.
Then pepole, now spectators, enter the scene – a cloister, a wood, a royal court, a vineyard, an ancient botanical garden.... - and, assisting to the theatre performances, they immerge themselves deeper and deeper into the spirit of the single location, led by the magic of theatre narration and imagination. Let's imagine what can happen and indeed have happend at the botanical garden of the Bourbon Kings in Portici. People get the tickets and join the theatre experience: the crunching leaves, the rustling of the wind, the scents of exotic plants, the coolness of the forest attenuate the sense of gravity until the stuff of dreams finally makes its way into the vast final meadows. Among the tall trees and thick bushes, the shapes, colors and characters of a parallel world emerge, imaginary, grotesque, surreal stories come to life. Fantastic performers lead the way towards another dimension, action after action, word after words, emotion after emotion when, all of a sudden, an unexpected choir of frogs with its powerful croacking join the show and definitely sever the last link with the secularity of life. Word and sound, nature and culture, animal kingdom and mankind, physical sensations and poetry conjugate together and give life to a unique aesthetically experience base on theatre, nature and art.
The concept of inclusion in this festival basically passes through two ways: the pricing policy and the free passes for people in a state of hardship. As regards the first point, i.e. the pricing policy, the price of the full ticket is €10, an entrance fee that includes full access to the site, participation in the theater show and, where permitted, the possibility of a tasting of wines or drinks according to the partnerships we establish from year to year. In addition to this, we currently have many comarketing agreements with access to the reduced ticket of €8, which means that many spectators access the festival with the reduced ticket. This choice is dictated by the desire to make this experience accessible to a heterogeneous and transversal audience, without making the economic commitment too onerous for the participants, especially when it comes to families.
In addition to this we provide a quantity of free tickets which, thanks to the mediation of a network of local associations, we make available to people in economic difficulty.
Regarding the direct engagement of civil society, we would like to point out the great attention paid to the new generations. Since its inception, the festival has included a section dedicated to children and families, having the very propitious opportunity to reconcile the theatrical experience with the natural experience: a long-awaited appointment: in all three editions we have made unscheduled repeats to meet a huge demand from families. In 2021, in order to contribute to the fight against educational poverty and to combat the effects of the isolation caused by Covid-19, we realized a free workshop that took place twice a week for 3 months, for children from 6 to 10 years. The young participants finally assisted to BEAUTY AND THE BEAST show, scheduled within the Festival, with the particular privilege of being able to 'snap' with the actors and actresses of the show to discuss about the difference between the active experience of the live show and different experiences of movies and tv. "This is true to me" was the motto of the group and, "I like the movie, but I like this more because here, you are alive!" was the most funny and, at the same time, the most extremely serious sentence that came out.
For next edition, we have also signed a internship agreement with "Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II" in order to actively involve students in the working world and offer them experience in the field both in contact with the public and in the management and creation of communication.
Since the second edition we have created an evaluation questionnaire to be submitted to the audience, to collect opinions and needs.The initiative was a great success and we collected a large amount of data and suggestions from the participants. For next edition we plan to enrich the questionnaire and ask our spectators to report any cultural assets they know that could be enhanced by the festival.
Conceived and created exclusively by Vesuvioteatro.org, the festival is supported by Italian Ministry of Culture, it also has solid network of partners who in various ways and in different ways guarantee its success and sustainability.
Financial Partners
Teatro Pubblico Campano
Comune di Portici
Comune di Sorrento
Comune di San Giorgio a Cremano
Comune di Pozzuoli
Comune di Massa Lubrense
Comune di Castellammare di Stabia
Comune di Casamarciano
Unione Buddhista Italiana (1st ed)
Goethe-Institut Neapel
Österreichischen Kulturforums Rom
Terzo Pilastro Internazionale Foundation /Cultura e Arte Foundation
Rete del Dono
Technical Partners
Museo Nazionale Ferroviario di Pietrarsa
Centro MUSA - Musei della Reggia di Portici
Fondazione Ente Ville Vesuviane
Villa Fernandes - Bene Comune
Fondazione Sorrento - Villa Fiorentino
Dipartimento di Agraria - Università degli Studi Federico II
Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli Vittorio Emanuele II
Co-marketing Partnership
Teatro Sannazaro, Napoli
Teatro Augusteo, Napoli
Teatro Bellini, Napoli
Teatro Nuovo, Napoli
Libreria Ubik, Napoli
Libreria The Spark, Napoli
Libreria Colonnese, Napoli
Libreria Mondadori, Portici
Libreria Libridine, Portici
Libreria Phlaegrea, Pozzuoli
Visit Campi Flegrei, Pozzuoli
Cantine Astroni, Pozzuoli
Dabliù Café-Bistrot, Portici
FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano
Librerie Feltrinelli e IBS
Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali - Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
The two major disciplines which are involved in the project are Theatre and Architecture, in effect we pays the greatest attention to the affinity between the performances and the value of the heritage sites.
Villa Campolieto is a XVIII cent. building created by Luigi Vanvitelli; Villa delle Ginestre hosted the great poet Giacomo Leopardi.Villa Favorita was commanded by King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon; Quisisana Royal Palace was commissioned by the Anjou dynasty and then enlarged by Charles III of Bourbon in 1765. The Royal Palace of Portici, on the slopes of Vesuvius, was commissioned by Charles of Bourbon and is surrounded by a forest that host a Botanical Garden of 7,400 square meters. The National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa gathers more than 55 historical rolling stocks, located in the ancient Pavilions of the bourbon laboratories. These are just some of the venues that have hosted the festival so far and we discover new places year after year. For example, in the 2022, we performed in Rione Terra, the first inhabited nucleus of Pozzuoli, founded around 530 BC and developed during the Roman Empire from 194 BC. Today the ancient Roman city has come to light thanks to archaeological excavations and it is among the ancient streets and shops that the shows take place. In addition, REGGIA DI PORTICI (Portici);REAL ORTO BOTANICO DI PORTICI (Portici);RIONE TERRA (Pozzuoli);VILLA DELLE GINESTRE (Torre del Greco),VILLA FAVORITA (Ercolano), VILLA CAMPOLIETO (Ercolano);
VILLA BRUNO (San Giorgio a Cremano);VILLA FIORENTINO (Sorrento);MUSEO NAZIONALE FERROVIARIO DI PIETRARSA (Portici-Napoli); REGGIA DI QUISISANA (Parco Archeologico di Pompei, Castellammare di Stabia) are recognized and protected as National Cultural Heritage by "Direzione Regionale per i beni culturali e paesaggistici della Campania / MIC - Ministero della Cultura Italiano" (Regional Directorate for cultural and landscape heritage of Campania / MIC - Italian Ministry of Culture).
RACCONTI PER RICOMINCIARE - THE SUNSET TALES THEATRE FESTIVAL was conceived during the first lockdown, in 2020 with the aim of helping show business workers and contributing to the restart of the arts; to help sites of culture and heritage; to encourage people to overcome isolation and share an immersive theatrical experience in natural and architectural environments of historical-artistic interest.
Today, after the first three editions, thanks to the very good feedback from the people and critics, our goal is to continue to encourage a process of community building around an immersive artistic experience that takes place in environments of recognized landscape value and architectural, environments in which our history rests.
In its context of realization, this festival plays a strategic role because it combines the relational and emotional capacity of the performing arts and theater with the aesthetic experience linked to the rediscovery of the places of history and beauty of Campania. It therefore has a positive impact on urban areas which, also due to the protracted state of emergency, are afflicted by the specter of a pulverization of cultural vitality, an essential prerequisite for an aware democracy and healthy sociality.
The Festival is addressed to a limited number of spectators for each performance. We do not use microphones and performers work outdoor, in the open spaces of heritage sites. Performers, singers, dancers are very close to the spectators, they work and play in a very intimate space. Therefore the number of spectators admitted for each performance must remain limited even if, after the first period, in which we were obliged to respect the safety distance between people because of Covid-19 emergency, now we can gradually enlarge the audience.
Total achievement referring to the last 3 years: 164 performers involved, 16 heritage sites; 49 authors; 561 performances; 120 staff members; 38 partnerships; 13.168 spectators.
The innovative character of the Festival passes through three main axes: eco-sustainability, the systematic enhancement of heritage sites not through theatrical visits but through a festival of dramaturgy and performing arts, and the creation of plays written specifically for the festival.
These are three coordinates that somehow design and distinguish the festival itself. This is neither revolutionary nor upsetting. Quite the contrary, it is a discrete renovation process which does not alienate the more traditional citizens, it does not alienate people who live in places not used to cultural offer and who tend to be frightened by the more contemporary languages. We have not conceived the festival for theatre professional, we conceived it for people.
We offer the local population and tourists a high quality theatrical experience, based on dramaturgy, performed into spaces of incredible beauty and full of history. It is a multiple aesthetically experience that remain accessible to people. There are sites where comedy and comedy are natural, there are architectures that suggest drama, there are landscapes that whisper to the spirit. The festival performances are very different in tone, content, genre; each of them is unique, in that place, at that moment.
Our approach in "Racconti per Ricominciare" depends on the conditions and circumstances of its birth. This project, which has grown a lot in three years and has become a real national festival, was born unexpectedly. This is not a long-planned project, but an 'emergency' project conceived in April 2020. As everyone knows, the first Italian lockdown was incredibly strict. All activities have stopped and many artists have suddenly been left behind. As a solid and relatively old cultural organization we are in contact with the entire universe of local artists and this prompted us to conceive a project that could generate work for a large number of people in the shortest possible time and respecting the limits imposed by the emergency situation, bringing benefits also to those heritage sites which were closed and abandoned. Thus was born "Racconti per Ricominciare" which literally means "Tales to Start Over", a project of hope. Since then the festival has become structured and has acquired a precise identity, but our approach remains a 'slow' approach, which aims at the well-being of the people who participate, which favors local artists, which seeks authors of value, which creates a network with cultural realities of the territory, which creates community around the hearth of art. This is a family that calls home the sites where our history, our past and our future reside. Identity, memory, imagination, these are the mental cornerstones around which our work revolves. The rest is detail.
RACCONTI PER RICOMINCIARE - THE SUNSET TALES THEATRE FESTIVAL is a replicable and scalable festival. First of all it is modular: it is made up of a variable number of theatrical itinerant performances, this number can increase or decrease according to the need. Furthermore it can be applied to different locations as it involves site-specific performances that are adapted to the location characteristics and that are based on dramaturgical compositions written or selected especially for the festival and which intentionally match the single locations with harmony and congruity. The format can be taken up and replicated in other geographical areas, in other languages, in different types of locations (architectural sites, natural landscapes, religious sites, archaeological sites, private buildings of recognized architectural or historical-artistic value...). In addition, the festival performers are local artists and young talents, therefore it can be replicated with an artistic team from the place where it is held and it is possible to create links and twinning with other organizations in Italy and abroad.
The Festival aims to meet the challenges of the 2030 Agenda, in particular we point out that we can achieve the following objectives:
Objective 3 - Health and well-being -
Paraphrasing the words of our Artistic Director "The great utopia that we pursue and will always pursue is that of a theater which relieves anxieties and makes those who do it and those who see it satisfied and happy". We strongly believe that performing arts contributes to the improvement of people's living conditions and health and our artistic strategies are always aimed at the general audience through performances that are never elitist and that are engaging and encouraging. Art is joy. We don't want neither upsetting nor perturbing, we believe that cultural growth pass through smiles, emotions, poetry and enjoyment of the intellect and imagination.
Objective 5 - Gender equality -
Our artistic team (as well as our organizational team) involves many women and many under 35 artists: excellent and tireless professionals who are enthusiastic about the festival and who are able to transmit great energy to the audience.
Objective 8 - Right economic conditions -
The artists we work with are always regularly engaged and contracted, therefore they benefit from all the tax and social security contributions provided for by law and rest and sick days where necessary.
Objective 13 - Environmental sustainability -
As it was said before, this is a green festival which is realized mainly without electricity. In addition, as a cultural professional organization we are working on the progressive digital transformation of the offices through the strengthening and technological updating of our equipment. In particular, online business meetings make it possible not to create car trips for the people involved, the use, where possible, of smart working for a part of our resources, the reduction of the use of printed documents and the use of technological devises.
