We will never know exactly what the relationship is between Kublai Khan’s maps and the cities bearing women’s names described by Marco Polo: the narrative unfolds precisely in the impossible reconciliation of the secret reasons of the narrator’s voice and the inscrutable ones of the listener. And what we learn about these cities always brings us back to the labyrinthine essence of each place and the ambiguity of each story. Thus, among the “invisible cities” there are some where it is not clear whether an object is a thing or a sign, some where the enthusiasm for novelty is threatened by dangerous piles of rubbish from a past life, some that were left unfinished and some that are already in ruins. Sergio Rubini takes on the task of unravelling this dialogue, carving a path through Calvino’s cities, supported by the jazzy echoes of Michele Fazio’s piano.

Il Trebbo 2.3 Magazine

In Friuli, the lives of three young men are cut short by the hardships of the world: the misery of the peasant milieu, the experience of migration, the political struggles, and then the integration into the middle-class of the booming economy. They yearn for happiness and a comfortable life abroad, develop a political consciousness, dream of revolution, then yield to the compromises of adulthood, likely to meet a work-related death.
In his first narrative experiment, Pasolini speaks in the voices of those who fled poverty-stricken post-war Italy to illegally enter Yugoslavia, attracted by the Communist utopia and by the promise of work and food for everyone. A counter-exodus on the Balkan route, across the same border that today’s refugees try to reach to enter Italy: we seem to have forgotten it, but just a short way back, we were the ones who resorted to passeurs.

Il Trebbo 2.2 Magazine

Alongside his fervent activity as a journalist, Aldo Cazzullo has grown increasingly fond of the theatre, where he narrates the essential facts and figures of Italian history bringing together his own curiosity and the talent of actors and musicians. In order to shed light on Benito Mussolini and Fascism, whose granite propaganda got consolidated through the Duce’s private and public crimes and betrayals, Cazzullo needs the “stinging” Moni Ovadia to lend his voice to both Mussolini and his victims. The eclectic Giovanna Famulari provides a soundtrack to this tale for two voices, with music and songs from the period. We will follow the events that led to WWII, and their profound impact on the history of our country.

Il Trebbo 2.2 Magazine