The homage to Alessandro Manzoni with the reading of the “Promessi Sposi” in the Duomo

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«As Manzoni would say: the true as a subject, the useful as a goal, the interesting as a means. In other words, and more secularly, we are all children of this work and we must continue to be so» explains Massimiliano Finazzer Flory, director, actor and artistic director for the Milan Cathedral of the “Maggio Manzoniano”.

Alessandro Manzoni

To celebrate the one hundred and fifty years since the death of Alessandro Manzoni (May 22, 1873), Milan pays tribute to the great poet and writer with a rich cultural and artistic program that will bring the reading of thirty-eight chapters in seventeen evenings under the vaults of the Ambrosian cathedral of Manzoni’s best-known work: The Betrothed.

«Rereading the Promessi Sposi means declaring a love for the written word, for the oral word, for that authentic listening in which a relationship is established between history and space. My artistic direction plays on the relationship between history and invention and would like to make Renzo’s vision his own who, when he contemplates the eighth wonder that is the Duomo, forgets all his troubles and brings back memories… » says Finazzer Flory. And again, he specifies: «Every evening from Monday to Friday, from 18.45 to 20.00, with a format that combines education and imagination, literary introduction and theatrical reading. Not infrequently accompanied musically by that other father of the country, Giuseppe Verdi. The relationship between Manzoni and Milan is evident but less clear is that Milan is a source of narrative, literature, a city of books and readers. We should start from here, without self-censoring our Christian identity, our spiritual roots. Will we be European for something or not? Yes, for culture». «As a director – he adds – I have to thank the extraordinary team, who really made themselves available from the bottom of my heart. In particular Maddalena Crippa, Laura Marinoni, Pamela Villoresi, Giole Dix, Allessio Boni, Federica Fracassi, Arianna Scommegna, Anna Nogara. Therefore, reading all thirty-eight chapters, even if dramaturgically reduced, does not diminish “the sauce of the whole story” from which, I am sure, no one will be bored. Because I would like to remind you that not only is Manzoni ironic and self-deprecating, but that this work often really makes the thought laugh».

Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem

On May 22, in the aisles of the Cathedral, the reading of the Promessi Sposi will be followed by a special performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, with the Milan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Riccardo Frezza.

The project, on the initiative of the Archpriest of the Cathedral, Monsignor Gianantonio Borgonovo, of the Veneranda Fabbrica and of the Metropolitan Chapter, has the support of Intesa Sanpaolo as main sponsor, of Greenthesis Group as sponsor and the media partnership of Il Sole24 Ore.