“In taking the floor at this global gathering, I feel that everything, except your courtesy, is against me.” These are the words with which Alcide De Gasperi, the famous Prime Minister and founder of the Christian Democratic Party, began his speech at the Paris Peace Conference in 1946, thereby shouldering the entire burden of Italy’s fascist history to redeem it and lead it towards other avenues. Director Carmelo Rifici and Paolo Pierobon, who plays the role of the Italian statesman, investigate this glimpse of history from the narrow perspective of De Gasperi’s life, emphasising the positives and negatives of a man from another era who was so committed to his political mission that he no longer perceived the boundaries between himself and his nation.

by Angela Demattè
direction Carmelo Rifici
Teatro Stabile di Bolzano, LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura
in collaboration with Fondazione Trentina Alcide De Gasperi
CTB – Centro Teatrale Bresciano