The event dedicated to The Betrothed and Alessandro Manzoni returns to Lecco, with a rich program

From October 14 to 16, 2022, Lecco Città dei Promessi Sposi, the only Italian event dedicated to The Betrothed and its author Alessandro Manzoni, returns to Villa Manzoni in Lecco.

A rich program of events rereads with a contemporary gaze the figure of Don Lisander as a European intellectual and writer, highlighting his topicality through a series of theatrical, musical, artistic and gastronomic initiatives and languages. The aim is to celebrate the Manzonian figure and bring it closer to a wider audience, also enhancing the places for their historical and artistic values, starting with Villa Manzoni, a house-museum and literary museum.

The many expected guests will take turns in its Stables, transformed for the occasion into a “literary café” where the public can immerse themselves in the cultural context of the 19th century. There will be no shortage of appointments en plein air, such as the guided tour of Lecco’s historic center and that, in the shadow of Resegone, of the famous incipit “Quel ramo del Lago di Como che volge a mezzogiorno...”

The program’s appointments stem from an in-depth study of all the aspects that characterized Manzoni’s time and figure, even the more personal ones, such as his passion for oenology and local gastronomy. Some proposals have been designed for a heterogeneous audience of young and old, while others are more “academic” in nature, with the intention of divulging the most recent results of research on Don Lisander, alternating scholarly content with more playful ones.

Theatrical readings will alternate with emotional experiences and gastronomic itineraries in which the dishes enjoyed by the Manzoni Family will be served; a Tea in Villa with a 19th-century flavor, on the occasion of the meeting on the theme of gender violence and fake news about plague and witchcraft at the time of Renzo and Lucia, will give way to musical moments with period instruments, such as one dedicated to the soundtrack of life in the villa between the 18th and 19th centuries.

A thematic guided tour of the Museo Manzoniano, which was refurbished in 2018, is planned. This is an exhibition itinerary that preserves all the original furnishings and many objects related to Alessandro Manzoni, starting from his cradle, his works, and autograph manuscripts. Equally significant are the signs left by the Scola family (furniture and paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries), which dialogue with multimedia inserts and pop renditions of Manzoni’s masterpiece, from the mid-20th century to the present.

The street furniture route “Yesterday as today: the Betrothed are here!” will also be inaugurated, which, in about 20 totems (layout by graphic designer Paolo Vallara, contents elaborated by the Museum’s management) proposes in the main Manzonian places the identification of the novel’s characters with the people of Lecco today. To help citizens and tourists identify with their favorite character from the novel, the faces will be concealed by a QR code, which contains audiovisual insights and readings from the literary work.

“This year’s edition,” explains Simona Piazza, Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture, “focuses on the theme ’Truth and Fiction,’ highlighting how much, sometimes, literature, and especially historical novels, give us back an era in a more truthful way than the chronicle does. A topic of great topicality, if we think of the fake news circulating on the web: in two centuries’ time, will it be art in its various forms that will tell the story of our era or a mass of news?”

Completing the event is the Fuori Festival, a program of collateral initiatives that, for the entire month of October and until Nov. 12, includes educational workshops for schools combined with guided tours and other initiatives, such as the Manzonian Walk and the two ceremonies of the “Alessandro Manzoni City of Lecco” Literary Award, promoted by 50&Più-Confcommercio.

Photo by Giacomo Albo

The event dedicated to The Betrothed and Alessandro Manzoni returns to Lecco, with a rich program

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