author: Mariangela Gualtieri
photos: Melina Mulas from the book Il terzo occhio, 5 Continents Edition, Milano 2005
translation: Andrew Jonathan Hunt
L’arboreto Edizioni
first published in April 2006
first reprint, May 2009
production manager: Fabio Biondi
project coordinator: Simonetta Piscaglia
copy editor: Sabrina Raggini
layout and graphics: Lucrezia Gismondi
Pages: 24
Binding: paperback
Size: 16 x 16 x 0,4 cm
Cover price: € 8,00
Language: Italian with consecutive English translation
ISBN: 978-88-902681-1-3
To Simona.
I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees. (Pablo Neruda)
L’arboreto
Sermon to the young of my species is not a fairy tale and maybe not even a story for children.
It’s a “fairy tale encounter” with the poetry of Mariangela Gualtieri.
A moving admonition to the young so that their safety may also be of help to the anguishing humanity of the adults, the true addressees of this sermon. A relentless look at the ruins and at the deviation from one’s dreams, needing recurring “oaths”.
…And one day,
when I was very small,
I swore an oath,
a childish oath,
without any words, but clear
and resonant:
I’ll take them all in my breast
and shelter them,
carry them to safety…
“I wrote this Sermon after watching, without the children’s knowledge, a few workshops held by Teatro delle Briciole, a company based in Parma. I am grateful to Letizia Quintavalla and to the whole Company for proposing me such a free viewing without expectations.” Mariangela Gualtieri.
Mariangela Gualtieri was born in Cesena in the region of Romagna. She graduated with a degree in architecture at the IUAV in Venice. In 1983, together with Cesare Ronconi, she co-founded the company Teatro Valdoca and has been working as a playwright since.
Among her publications: Antenata (Crocetti, Milano 1992), Fuoco centrale (I Quaderni del Battello Ebbro, Bologna 1995), Nessuno ma tornano (Centro Editoriale Università degli Studi della Calabria, Cosenza 1995), Sue dimore (Palazzo dell’Esposizioni di Roma, Roma 1996),
Nei leoni e nei lupi (I Quaderni del Battello Ebbro, Bologna 1996), Parsifal (Teatro Valdoca, Cesena 2000), Chioma (Teatro Valdoca, Cesena 2000), Fuoco centrale e altre poesie per il teatro, (Einaudi, Torino 2003), Donna che non impara (Galleria Emilio Mazzoli, Modena 2003), Senza polvere senza peso (Einaudi, Torino 2006).
