It starts with a film screening of Senso by Luchino Visconti on 25 August 1977. Among the majestic ruins of Basilica of Maxentius, Roman citizens from all strokes of life gather, speak, enjoy themselves during the program of Cinema Epico which was mixing pop culture and committed culture. To the surprise of the organisers, the mayor of Rome and art historian Giulio Carlo Argan and his newly appointed councillor for Culture, the architect Renato Nicolini, more than 3000 viewers come to see the small spectacle. A fresh wind is in the air, the festival Estate Romana, which will grow to become the avant-garde’s Woodstock of poetry, is born. 

However, the avant-garde of Italian theatre is already taking shape from the 1960s onwards, in independent theatres in different places of the city with around a diverse and tightly knit community. One of the protagonists is the poet and regisseur Simone Carella – the inaugural subject of the museum’s Polyphony section in which the work of a single figure is explored and expanded upon through its impact on other practices – practices differing in terms of identity, generation, and background. Each focus is a heterogeneous palimpsest that grows over time through the addition of new elements.

Visit Io poeto tu and discover more about Simone Carella’s multiverse, the history of theatre and beat poetry in Rome, festivals like Estate Romana, Castelporziano, as well as a stellar short documentary by VEGA.