MUSEO FESTIVAL at the National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia

Civitavecchia's National Archaeological Museum is transformed into a grand stage for Museo Festival, a series of four performances to be held in September 2025, with the aim of bringing contemporary artistic languages to archaeological cultural sites.

The Festival, in fact, offers a program that blends theater, performance art, theatrical readings and immersive installations, creating an unprecedented dialogue between the main artifacts preserved in the Museum and two cultural identities deeply rooted in the territory: the classical heritage and the surprising link between Civitavecchia and Japan.

The Festival opens on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 8:30 p.m. with "Nose and Sky - An Italic Rumination," a play written and directed by Gian Maria Cervo, a leading figure in international contemporary dramaturgy, with shared direction with Pierpaolo Sepe.

Loosely based on the Pirandellian novella "Dal naso al cielo," the text traverses twenty-five centuries of Italian and Mediterranean thought, alternating quotations, irony and moments of tension, in a journey that touches on Pirandello, De Filippo, Pasolini and Lynchian suggestions. This work adopts the innovative "polyvocal" techniques recently codified by American scholar Paul Castagno, whose works have not yet been translated into Italian. Also recurring within the play are references to the figures of Apollo and Athena, deities who become a point of contact between mythology and contemporary reflection.

The dialogue with classicism continues in another production, in which the Museum's two main exhibits are confronted, in an original perspective "clash," with an identifying trait of Civitavecchia's culture: its relationship with Japan. Indeed, near the Museum are the statue of Hasekura Tsunenaga, Japan's historic ambassador to Europe, and the Church of the Holy Japanese Martyrs, which commemorates the martyrdom of 26 Japanese Christians in 1597. This evocative connection inspires the performance "Apollo in Manga," scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 20, at 8:30 p.m.: a lecture-performance curated by Matteo Sapio, a creative Italian active in Japan and a collaborator of the Kadokawa Foundation. With the support of two performers, Sapio explores the representations of the god Apollo in Japanese comics, in a fascinating interweaving of classical archaeology and Japanese pop culture.

Rounding out the program is "3 Response Plays pasoliniani" on Sept. 27 at 8:30 p.m. and Sept. 28 at 5:30 p.m., a co-production between Italian and Japanese companies that offers an Asian look at the work and thought of Pier Paolo Pasolini, 50 years after his death.

The project, conceived by the Regional Directorate National Museums Lazio, is part of the Notice for the Enhancement of Cultural Heritage through the Performing Arts, promoted by the Ministry of Culture. The artistic direction is entrusted to theAssociation La Dramaturgie, an Italian reality of reference in contemporary dramaturgy and interdisciplinary experimentation.

USEFUL INFORMATION

National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia

Sept. 18, 8:30 p.m. "Nose and sky-an Italic rumination"

Sept. 20 at 8:30 p.m. "Apollo in the Manga"

Sept. 27 8:30 p.m. "3 Response plays Pasoliniani"

Sept. 28 5:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. "3 Response plays Pasoliniani" (replica)

Reservations: kitojaguar@gmail.com

Information: +39 3478874694 (La Dramaturgie Association) active from 3 to 6 p.m.