ASCANIO Celestini – PASOLINI. UNA VITA, ANZI DUE. The author discusses with Alessandro Brucioni and Enrico Pompeo.

The Book – Vincenzo Cerami understood it: take all of Pasolini’s work, from his first childhood poetry to the final frame of Salò, and you will have the portrait, the design of Italian history from the end of fascism to the mid-1970s. Ascanio Celestini, fifty years after the death of one of the most complex and prophetic intellectuals of the twentieth century, tackles the figure of Pier Paolo Pasolini not through a mere biographical reconstruction, but through a choral, anthropological, and deeply political narrative. Celestini traces Pasolini’s trajectory, capturing his voice, doubts, love for the outskirts, and sharp criticism of consumer society. With his unmistakable narrative style — characterized by rhythm, popular memory, and strong civic engagement — the author intertwines Pasolini’s private and public events with the social and cultural transformations of Italy in the late twentieth century.

Ascanio Celestini wants to rediscover the poet’s perspective. Only in this way does Pasolini remain a living presence, a necessary interlocutor for anyone who wants to understand the contradictions of the present.

Ascanio Celestini – He is one of the most authoritative representatives of Italian narrative theater. Author, director, and theater and film actor, he has dedicated much of his work to historical memory, the outskirts, and the social dynamics of the country. He has already published several works related to his most successful shows for Laterza. His texts are linked to field research and investigate the memory of events and issues related to recent history and the collective imagination. Among his latest theatrical shows, Laika (2015), Pueblo (2017), and Rumba (2023), which are part of the trilogy at the origin of Poor Christ. His album Sacred Words won the 2007 Ciampi Award for Best Debut Record of the Year.

Alessandro Brucioni, author, director, and founder of the Mo-Wan Teatro company; he has been one of the most recognizable voices in Tuscan narrative theater for years.

Enrico Pompeo, teacher, writer, director, and theater actor. He organizes cultural events, book presentations, and hosts a literary advice column on his YouTube channel.