Badolato: Where Ashes Become Song.
Black charcoal and grey ashes are suffocating the vibrant green of the Mediterranean scrub in the lower Ionian leap of Calabria. Indeed, during the night, the fierce red of the fire dazzles the mountains while a dense column of smoke deeply wounds the starry sky.
Consequently, a light, almost silent ash settles softly upon our houses, while the intense heat burns both our skin and our soul.
During the day, the deafening roar of Canadair planes and helicopters turns the landscape into an apocalyptic film set. However, the fire continues to advance relentlessly, devouring centuries-old olive trees, oaks, and chestnuts. Therefore, after twelve long days of siege, the sense of helplessness becomes total, and you feel yourself burning inside.
This brings us to art as an answer to the impossible. Indeed, where nature falls silent, Art raises its voice with strength. Moreover, the local community has gathered tightly around the Teatro del Carro to say a definitive “no” to this environmental disaster.
Consequently, among the charred trees of the Badolato forest, within a lunar and ghostly landscape, the verses of the Supreme Poet Dante have found a new, vital breath.
The performance “L’ALTISSIMO CANTO. In Voce di Donna” (The Supreme Chant: In a Woman’s Voice), conceived and directed by Luca Maria Michienzi, has successfully transformed this immense pain into a powerful testament. In fact, the voices of Annamaria Zuccaro, Anna Maria de Luca, Lucia Cristofano, and Paola Tarantino, beautifully accompanied by the music of Remo De Vico, have pierced the heavy silence of the ashes. Ultimately, they have restored humanity to a place where everything seemed lost forever.