This is a significant year for Castel del Monte, which marks thirty years since its entry on the UNESCO World Heritage List with a week of events. From September 5 to 12, five unmissable encounters are planned to tell the monument’s story by relating it to contemporary languages and interpreters.
30 years of UNESCO for Castel del Monte
Castel del Monte since 1996 has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and today, thirty years on, Andria chooses to celebrate it by going beyond mere commemoration to offer a richly varied cultural program.
The guiding thread is harmony. That of the geometries and proportions that characterize the building commissioned by Frederick II, but also the harmony that can emerge from the dialogue between epochs, disciplines and sensibilities; for the events, musicians, filmmakers, scholars, artists and choreographers have been involved.
The aim of the Municipality of Andria is very clear: to transform the thirtieth anniversary into a moment of reflection with an eye toward the future; Mayor Giovanna Bruno, in an official note, said that the recognition carries the responsibility to safeguard and find new ways to tell the story of a place by involving the younger generations. The project arises precisely from the idea of pairing preservation with cultural production, letting history and contemporaneity meet inside the monument.
In the same vein, Anita Guarnieri, director of the Castello Svevo in Bari and part of the Regional Directorate of National Museums of Puglia, notes that the double anniversary, UNESCO’s and that of the Castel dei Mondi Festival, provides an opportunity to renew attention toward a site of internationally recognized value. Not only visits and conservation, therefore: study, dialogue and new interpretations can also contribute to the site’s enhancement.
The Program
The program opened on September 5 with Fulvio Delle Donne; the medieval historian and philologist, currently on the faculty of the University of Naples Federico II, joined the medieval history professor Victor Rivera Magos for an in-depth session centered on Frederick II and touching on the political and cultural context that led to the birth of Castel del Monte.
September 7, the second session is scheduled at 11 a.m. with Maria Luisa Bafunno, a director and lecturer at NABA in Milan, and countertenor Nicolò Balducci. The dialogue centers on Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli, and tackles themes related to voice, body, identity and memory.
Thursday, September 10, starting at 5 p.m., will feature visual artist and lecturer at the Rome Academy of Fine Arts, Dario Agrimi, who will discuss painting, sculpture, photography and installations, explaining how harmony and perception are often linked to the world of the visual arts.
From 5 p.m. on Friday, September 11, the in-depth talk by choreographer Emiliano Pellisari will take the stage; founder of the NoGravity company, he will discuss the relationship between body and movement, geometry and space.
The final appointment is anticipated for Saturday, September 12; from 5 p.m., Agata Tomšič, director of Mittelfest in Cividale del Friuli, and writer and director Roberto Latini will contribute a reflection on contemporary theatre.
