Paradiso XIX

Piazza della Repubblica, Florence, May 12th 2007, 5.30 PM: Bob reading La Divina Commedia, Paradiso, canto XIX:

Gerard Butler: Manfredi di Sicilia

[...] E un di loro incominciò: “Chiunque
tu se’, così andando, volgi ‘l viso:
pon mente se di là mi vedesti unque“.

Io mi volsi ver’ lui e guardail fiso:
biondo era e bello e di gentile aspetto,
ma l’un de’ cigli un colpo avea diviso.

Quand’io mi fui umilmente disdetto
d’averlo visto mai, el disse: “Or vedi“;
e mostrommi una piaga a sommo ‘l petto.

Poi sorridendo disse: “Io son Manfredi,
nepote di Costanza imperadrice;
ond’io ti priego che, quando tu riedi,

vadi a mia bella figlia, genitrice
de l’onor di Cicilia e d’Aragona,
e dichi ‘l vero a lei, s’altro si dice.

Parea dinanzi a me con l’ali aperte…

Saturday, 12th May 2007, an amazing Comedìa-related event will take place in Florence, hometown of Dante: that’s the second edition of I 100 cantori per Firenze - all’improvviso Dante, which consists into a hundred people reading the whole Divina Commedia in various spots of the city.

Our own Bob will be actively taking part to it: he’ll be in fact mumbling reciting? reading Canto XIX off Paradiso. So if you see a (very) tall interista panicking before a lot of people, that’s him. Yay!

The whole event will start at 3,00 PM in Piazza S.Croce, right under Dante’s statue, and will go on all afternoon and evening.

Be there - or be square!

Resources: Event schedule - La Divina Commedia, complete text - Paradiso, canto XIX

Jack be limbo, Jack be quick, Jack go unda limbo stick

We’re not even one hundredth into defining the whole cast, yet Pope Benedict XVI is already cutting our screenplay…

Franco Zeffirelli: Brunetto Latini

[...] Così adocchiato da cotal famiglia,
fui conosciuto da un, che mi prese
per lo lembo e gridò: “Qual maraviglia!“. 

E io, quando ‘l suo braccio a me distese,
ficcaï li occhi per lo cotto aspetto,
sì che ‘l viso abbrusciato non difese

la conoscenza süa al mio ‘ntelletto;
e chinando la mano a la sua faccia,
rispuosi: “Siete voi qui, ser Brunetto?”. 

E quelli: “O figliuol mio, non ti dispiaccia
se Brunetto Latino un poco teco
ritorna ‘n dietro e lascia andar la traccia“.

Sean Penn: Dante Alighieri

Durante Degli Alighieri, better known as Dante Alighieri or simply Dante, (14 May/13 June 1265 – September 13/14, 1321) was an Italian poet from Florence. His greatest work, the Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature.

As an infant, Dante may have been originally christened ‘Durante’ in Florence’s Baptistery, and the name Dante could be a shortened version of that name.

He was born into the prominent Alighieri family of Florence, with loyalties to the Guelphs, a political alliance that supported the Papacy, involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines, who were backed by the Holy Roman Emperor.

These factions fashioned their names after those of opposing factions of German Imperial politics, centered around the noble families the Welfs (Guelfs or Guelphs) and n (Ghibellines), but adapting their meaning to the Italian political arena. After the defeat of the Ghibellines by the Guelphs in 1289, the Guelphs themselves were divided into White Guelphs, who were wary of Papal influence, and Black Guelphs who continued to support the Papacy. Dante (a White Guelph) pretended that his family descended from the ancient Romans (Inferno, XV, 76), but the earliest relative he can mention by name is Cacciaguida degli Elisei (Paradiso, XV, 135), of no earlier than about 1100.

Cameos: Gianciotto Malatesta?

Paolo from The Director’s Cup is trying to help out, too, suggesting Bilbo Baggins Ian Holm as Gianciotto Malatesta (although he’s not actually supposed to appear in person, he’s only evoked in Francesca’s tale.).

Cameos?

I would invite all the people involved in the project to start thinking about the character who suits them the most.
LOL (ne vedremo delle belle!)

Coming soon!

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