Genoa's Palazzo Ducale celebrates Italo Calvino and his relationship with the poetic luniverse of the fairy tale

The spaces of the Loggia degli Abati in Genoa’s Palazzo Ducale will host the exhibition Calvino cantafavole, curated by Eloisa Morra and Luca Scarlini, from Oct. 15, 2023 to April 7, 2024, supported by the Region of Liguria, the Municipality of Genoa with Fondazione Palazzo Ducale, and organized by Electa publishing house in collaboration with Scuderie del Quirinale, Teatro della Tosse and Lele Luzzati Foundation.

The exhibition is part of the official schedule of celebrations for the centenary of Italo Calvino ’s birth and the program of cultural initiatives on the occasion of Genoa Italian Book Capital 2023. Divided into six sections, it aims to explore the celebrated writer’s relationship with thepoetic universe of the fairy tale, recomposing an unexpected and evocative sentimental geography.

It starts with the creations of the San Remo-born Antonio Rubino for Corriere dei Piccoli, and then republished in Einaudi Ragazzi, and then moves on to the long-term collaboration with Emanuele Luzzati, investigated through the Genoese master’s illustrations for Calvinian works but also in the RAI productions in which Luzzati collaborated with costume designer Santuzza Calì, whose sketches are displayed in the exhibition. From the magical world of the Tarot, born in Finale Ligure and evoked in a genealogy that reaches all the way back to Fabrizio de André, we move on, faithfully following the author’s writings dedicated to iconographic representation, to visions of his land as presented by his fellow countrymen painters and by artists such as Francesco Menzio and Enrico Paulucci, to whom he was linked by a friendship.

To the map of the many artists Calvino wrote about, all of whom were linked to the fantastic-from Enrico Baj to Bona de Pisis, from Domenico Gnoli to Luigi Serafini-the exhibition places side by side a path on the fairy tale as declined in its relations with music, television and theater. The latter aspect is analyzed through different points of view. On the one hand, productions co-signed with Toti Scialoja and Donatella Ziliotto (later revisited in a contemporary key by composer John Dove and Sue Blane, set designer of the Rocky Horror Picture Show) and fellow countryman Luciano Berio, and the Mozartian turcheria Zaide, staged at the Batignano Festival conceived by set designer Adam Pollock; on the other hand, works for theater and television by Giulio Paolini, an artist particularly dear to Calvino.

The scenic path, in which the central element is the tree, is conceived by Emanuele Conte and Paolo Bonfiglio, and realized by Fondazione Luzzati Teatro della Tosse. Introduced by a set of painted trees and objects of memory, it unfolds as an ideal journey from the woods of the heights down to the sea, passing through the stone villages of the hinterland, in a tribute to Liguria. Director of the stage setting is Andrea Morini.

For the exhibition Electa will publish a catalog edited by Eloisa Morra and Luca Scarlini, as well as a volume in the Enciclopedie series entitled Scialoja A-Z, edited by Eloisa Morra. Along with the exhibition is a rich calendar of in-depth initiatives ranging from meetings and conferences to explore the multiple dimensions of the exhibition to lzionispettacolo with interventions by actors and scholars of the writer’s work.

Parallel to the exhibition in the Loggia degli Abati, Casa Luzzati offers an in-depth look at the master’s work for Calvino with more than 100 original works. Divided into two sections, the public will be able to admire the entire collection of materials from the Cetra Quartet, record covers of Calvino’s fairy tales, original illustrations, interviews, set designs for the theater, and the work of nursery rhymes for Rai 1’s Baron rampant in Turin.

The exhibition is part of the “Luzzati for Calvino” project that Lele Luzzati Foundation conceived for this prestigious event. Thanks to this project-curated by Sergio Noberini and Lele Luzzati Foundation-important works by Luzzati are on display in the Scuderie del Quirinale and Loggia degli Abati exhibitions, which thus see the active participation of the Foundation dedicated to the Maestro. Casa Luzzati also designs and offers a series of workshops from Luzzati’s drawings inspired by his fairy tales. The Genoese exhibition is part of the centenary celebrations project together with Favoloso Calvino, an exhibition curated by Mario Barenghi at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome. The Rome exhibition is organized by Scuderie del Quirinale with the publishing house Electa, in collaboration with Regione Liguria and the City of Genoa with Fondazione Palazzo Ducale, and will be open to the public from October 13, 2023 to February 4, 2024.

For info: www.palazzoducale.genova.it

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Genoa's Palazzo Ducale celebrates Italo Calvino and his relationship with the poetic luniverse of the fairy tale

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