The prince of the stage for the prince of wines from Alta Ciociaria, this was the summary of the third and final evening of the Anagni Fuori Festival dedicated to Cesanese DOCG, which also attracted the interest of TG Lazio.
Glauco Mauri is an icon of Italian theater, and at 93 years old he has dominated the stage and enraptured audiences as only a great actor can.
I had seen him still as a girl when with friends we had season tickets at the Teatro Quirino in Rome (and if I remember correctly just in a Shakespeare play) and he had impressed us with his charisma emanating from his small body.
Glauco Mauri has never had an imposing physique, but the years have made him a nightingale, like the name of last night's show "THE USIGNOLO SONG" where he personally chose Shakespeare's passages and wrote the texts that guided the viewer through the emotions.
Last night he entered the stage supported by actor Marco Blanchi and recited Shakespeare sitting on a small armchair and accompanied by Giovanni Zappalorto on piano and Marzio Audino on percussion and timpani. Nevertheless, the still robust voice conveyed to us all the emotions of the texts that investigated the meaning of existence, as if we were all involved in his season of life.
And like Shakespeare, for Glauco Mauri life is a stage on which one must stand until the last scene. Just like the Jacques of 'As You Like It' which sums up a man's life in 7 stages, the last of which is the second childhood in which we return free to say and do as we please. And Glauco Mauri is free!
The modernity of the texts was shocking. Our all being actors reciting subject matter at one point reminded me of jim Carrey from the movie Truman Show, and it made me feel all the modernity of Shakespeare and the banality of our human tribulations.
This modernity is even more pronounced in the reading of sonnet 66, a text that echoes Hamlet's soliloquy but in the last verse explains our whole life: love. It is love that is the first and ultimate meaning of our existence, the strongest bond and the one that guides us in birth and death.
Mayor Daniele Natalia and Councilor Carlo Marino presented Glauco Mauri with a special award with a sculpture by Donatella Gismondi.
It was a love that left the main stage and entered the small square in front of the Pro Loco where some artisans had prepared a stall for the Fuori Festival audience to taste their lovingly made products.
In the interviews that you can follow by following the Fuori Festival socials or www.fuorifestivalanagni.it we heard some wonderful stories of people who put themselves out there to make their dreams come true.
Antonello Coletti Conti, the man who represents the history of modern Cesanese and who turned a wine for tourists into a wine that is the only red DOCG in Lazio. After him, many other entrepreneurs started producing Cesanese and bringing it to be one of the best Italian reds. Yet, he had to be a lawyer and when he inherited the business he knew nothing about enology. Study, passion and even love for his Anagni roots did the rest.
Davide Rosi's story is totally different: he is the first generation of shepherds and told that since he was a child he used to ask his mother to buy figurines of sheep and shepherds for the Christmas crib.
Today it is his parents who follow him and he has started the technique of cheese aging. We tasted some from sheep, goat and cow. Embellished with nuts, herbs and spices, but also aged in straw and Cesanese grape skins. Davide's smile was infectious.
Cold cuts and porchetta came from Marco Pellegrini of Patrica, the capital of the famous sausage. An Fuori Festival that expands to Alta Ciociaria and presents all the excellence of this beautiful (and tasty) area.
The Oil that accompanied the tastings of local breads and flours was presented by Carlo Gallozzi who with his project "Olio dei Papi" made us taste a unique product.
The red evening ended with 'ciammellette' with wine, but above all with the famous gingerbread or 'panpapato' of Anagni. A dessert so distinctive that Anagni has dedicated a contest to it (in which I am proudly on the jury thanks to the teachings of my mother-in-law from Anagni), and its organizer Councilor Guglielmo Vecchi guided us to the pairing of gingerbread and Cesanese wine.
Perhaps it is because the dessert of Anagni is made precisely from the must of Cesanese grapes, but this combination is a real treat for those lucky enough to be able to taste it.
If the story of the panpapato was told to us by Tommaso Cecilia, who read us a poem in dialect, Mauna Alteri of the Malacucina restaurant gave us a taste of the dessert. She told us her story but also her love for her Anagni "I am a traveler without moving because of all the people who come to eat with us. They come from all over the world to come and admire Anagni!"
And we could not miss an interview with Maurizio Imperia, the goldsmith artist who created the pendant with the jester (echoing the Festival's famous poster that has never changed throughout its 30 editions) that is given to actors at the end of their theatrical performances. A young artist who created a line of jewelry on the symbols of Anagni and Alta Ciociaria.
See you next year, and from tomorrow we will start working on the new edition thanks to an effervescent Anna de Lellis, alderman for local products, and the flawless machine of the Pro Loco of Anagni.