In September, the 12th edition of Naxos Legge, reading festival

Exhibited and shared with the virtual community, bodies are the emblem of the paradox of contemporary society that, while it exalts and feeds on sociality and inclusion, also lives - communicates, meets, clashes, reconciles - in the ephemeral dimension of social, aseptic and asensory. Bodies are precisely the leitmotif of the 12th edition of NaxosLegge, Festival of Narratives, Reading and Books (Sept. 1-Oct. 1, 2022) which, under the artistic direction of Fulvia Toscano and with the support of theRegional Department of Cultural Heritage and ’Sicilian Identity led by Alberto Samonà, returns this year to the city of Giardini Naxos with dozens of appointments where the theme of the body is declined in different sequences with aesthetic, historical, meta-historical, geopolitical and anthropological insights. A thematic path announced already by the guiding image of the festival: the Armor of Achilles, a sculpture by Stefania Pennacchio (Raku ceramics, 2019) inspired by the ancient leather armor of warriors and which, although torn by time and fatigue, in its semi-twist seems ready for a new daring adventure. Toscano explains, "The processes of dematerialization of reality and the relationships connected to it, the progressive liquidity of social ties as Baumann puts it, impose a reconsideration of the role of the body a need for dialogue with it, a new phenomenology of the body."

Conceived in the first colony of Greeks in Sicily, NaxosLegge-which also includes meetings in Messina, Catania, Syracuse, Taormina, Augusta, Letojanni and Roccalumera-has always given voice to dialogue with ancient and modern Greece. And, between theater, poetry, philosophy, archaeology and great universal literature, some extraordinary guests of the 2022 playbill and dedicated events confirm this. Greek is director Theodoros Terzòpoulos, founder of the Attis Theater and world-renowned for his method of acting that emphasizes the role of the body, who is expected in Naxos to recount his magisterium and receive an award (10/9); and Greek-born Katherina Papatheu (UniCT) will speak on contemporary poet Titos Patrikios and his relationship with Kostantinos Kavafis (3/9); in the section devoted to poetry and “uncomfortable” intellectuals, space will be given to Pasolini (for him five events between literature and the ancient world, music, theater and cinema with his Oedipus Rex) and Pound. One more Greek for the fifth edition of the Communicating the Ancient Award (3/9), which will see two great archaeologists in Naxos: from Athens Nikolaos Stampolìdis, director of the prestigious Acropolis Museum, who will give a lectio magistralis on the ancient Cretan city of Eleutherna; the other is the Italian Paolo Matthiae to whom we owe the discovery of the city of Ebla in Syria, excavations interrupted in 2010 due to civil war. Both, along with other leading figures from the Italian and international cultural and scientific communities, will be honored during the event sponsored by Naxos Taormina Park at the Nike Theater. A location that since last year has been hosting on the same days the mini-review Interpreting the Ancient: on the calendar are three dramaturgies on myth from transcriptions of classics and two theater workshops, one of which is dedicated to theOresteia in Pier Paolo Pasolini ’s translation that will conclude with a screening of PPP’s Oedipus Rex (4/9).

More theater with Corpi di scena and a tribute to the “scandalous greatness” of Carmelo Bene on the 20th anniversary of his death (9/30); and then the topicality of four mysteries of Italian history with the Corpo del reato section and four cold cases featuring Enrico Mattei, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Raoul Gardini (who committed suicide in 1993, during the years of Mani Pulite) and Federico Caffè almost all disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Naxoslegge will also be in the waiting room of the Taormina-Giardini station, a jewel of art deco and a place-symbol of travel and knowledge that will be the setting for Joyce ’sUlysses with poet and translator Alessandro Ceni and students from the Dams of Messina engaged in a choral reading (24/9).

Among the niche events, linked to the section The Women’s Body coordinated by Marinella Fiume, is one dedicated to Tròtula, a woman physician who lived around the year 1000 and authored the first treatise on gynecology and obstetrics, a true ante-litteram scientist but also a figure of reference for the women of her time; for the section Glimpses to the East curated by Sakiko Chemi, a portrait of the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, with interventions by, among others, the translator and a manga expert (17/9); and then Written on the Body, with the testimony of those who every day boldly cross its limits: this is the case of Paola Tricomi from Catania, a doctoral student at the Normale di Pisa and author of the film Per desiderio, despite living with a disabling tetraparesis; and Simona Cascio from Messina, captain of the national deaf basketball team with which she won the European Championships in 2021; finally with The Body of Power, an investigation into the phenomenology of power with debate between historians and political scientists of antithetical positions (28-29/9 in Messina) and a metapolitical conversation between two scholars aligned and always out of the chorus, Marco Tarchi and Alain De Benoist (30/9 in Catania); the memory of Sergio Perroni, translator of Steinbeck and Houellebecq (among others) who tragically passed away in Taormina in 2019. Finally, as per tradition, kicking off the festival (2/9) will be the presentation of the Promoters of Culture awards to personalities who have distinguished themselves for their commitment and activity in cultural heritage, which from this year will be dedicated to the memory of Franz Riccobono, a native of Messina, an expert in homeland history and archaeology enthusiast.

NaxosLegge 2022 is also supported by the Naxos Taormina Archaeological Park, which hosts most of the events(Museum and archaeological area, Nike Theater, Palazzo Ciampoli and Odeon), theUniversity of Messina(Cospecs-DAMS and Department of Political and Social Sciences) andErsu(UniME).

For all information, you can visit the event’s official website.

In September, the 12th edition of Naxos Legge, reading festival

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