MARTINI:
IL CARDINALE E GLI ALTRI

Martini tells his story: this is the apex of observation from to which Marco Garzonio's text should be considered. The title says the author's intentions. Namely, to narrate dramaturgically: how the Cardinal has been a bishop for the more than 22 years he has been to Milan and why, having retired to Jerusalem, he has increasingly taken on the role of prophet of our troubled days; how the Ambrosian Church has related to civil society and politics and the differences between Martini and the top echelons of the Italian episcopate; how Martini has responded to the constant questions posed by the cultural and social context to about both the most burning general issues of coexistence (injustice, corruption, violence, wars) and the problems that touch from close to people's lives starting with the family and the difficulties it faces today.

In the play, an original text written especially by the author for the Spoleto Festival, two strands intertwine: the objective one, let us say, which is a bit of the "history of Milan," of Italy and Europe of the last thirty years, and the subjective one. The text aims, in fact, to to bring out the lived experience of a man who, taken from biblical studies and lacking pastoral experience, becomes progressively aware of what he feels is changing in him in the face of the task entrusted to him and who senses, at the same time, how the reality to is being transformed hand to hand he steps into it. Milan is changing to due to rapid socio-cultural and economic changes, but he, the cardinal, has also changed in his innermost being from his first experiences and contributes to noticeably changing Milan: the Catholic and the secular.

The red thread ofopera is Martini's relationship with Corriere della Sera, a newspaper for which author Marco Garzonio ("the greatest Martinian expert" Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi has called him) has followed Carlo Maria Martini since his arrival to Milan. Much of the material inopera, in fact, is also drawn from the articles the Cardinal wrote for the newspaper, the interviews he granted, and the mail with readers he held in the last three years of his life, from 2009 to 2012. The scope of local, national, and world events and Martini's critical consciousness have made and make Milan an emblematic apex of observation, because of the city's location(Mediolanum: standing in the middle, between North South, East and West) and because of the city's role as a forerunner of phenomena by tradition. Terrorism, deindustrialization, immigration, localism, collapse of walls, Tangentopoli are chapters of a complex collective affair that in the "big city" (Milan compared by the cardinal to the biblical Nineveh, the city from save from corruption and decay) has one of its main epicenters. The pressing of the events and the resonances in the pastor's soul, as well as in his intelligence, constitute the raw material in the proceeding of the text. Martini's self-awareness, which seeks to understand the meaning of the present and the seeds of the future it contains, for himself, for the faithful, and for the civil community, becomes a paradigm of an arduous search for the foundations of being together as well as the reasons for believing. The "what is all this telling me," or "what resonances does that specific fact have in me," "why is it happening precisely to me," "what message God wants to send me" are typical expressions of the martinian lexicon. The fact that the cardinal questioned rather than gave answers made people feel him close, "one of us."

Martini, who, in the wake of Ambrose's experience, acquired consciousness of the role of defensor civitatis and defensor pauperum, remains a moral point of reference for the city, the country, and the Western world. But not only for it. Given the intensified international relations on the ecumenical level thanks also to to the scientific ones of his university years, the cardinal became a figure to whom countries, religions, institutions scattered to the four corners of the earth looked. An authentic interlocutor in the dialogue of cultures. A figure who still has much from to say.

‍MARCOGARZONIO‍

Born in 1939, Marco Garzonio lives to Milan. He is currently a columnist for Corriere della Sera and privately practices as a Psychologist Analyst and Psychotherapist. At the newspaper of via Solferino he worked for more than 17 years, during which he was entrusted with the task of following Cardinal Martini from the early days of his episcopate, a commitment that allowed him to accompany him even abroad for major events to: Basel, Santiago de Compostela, Jerusalem, Damascus, Graz. Having also had to cover political, social and cultural events for the newspaper gave him the opportunity to consider the scope of the Cardinal'sopera in reference to the happenings of civil life on a national scale, the general affairs of the Church, and relations with other religions and cultures. He had come to the Corriere Corriere as the result of a journalistic career full of many qualifying professional experiences: Head of the Press Office of the Catholic University with Giuseppe Lazzati, then Rector, and then of the Lombardy Regional Council with President Piero Bassetti; then Head of Service at the weekly Tempo Illustrato, directed by from Guglielmo Zucconi, and editor to Il Giorno, under the guidance of Gaetano Afeltra.

He is national president of CIPA, Italian Center for Analytical Psychology, at the school of which he serves as Lecturer and Trainer. For more than 30 years he taught at the Catholic University. In 2002 he was called to IULM. From university teaching he retired in 2010. from time he is involved in the Ambrosianeum. Of that cultural foundation, a place of dialogue and shared search for the common good between society and the Church, he was recently confirmed as president, in continuity with a commitment that began 20 years ago, with Martini as archbishop.

He has published numerous volumes, also translated abroad, and written essays published in collected works. In particular, he has devoted four books to 'opera and Martini's thought. The last of these, The Prophet. Life of Carlo Maria Martini, was published from Mondadori in November 2012. The previous three volumes on the cardinal are a reading of the main stages of his episcopal ministry, from the intentions of the beginnings to the summary of when he left the diocese. Titles: Cardinal to Milan in a Changing World, Rizzoli, 1985; Carlo Maria Martini, San Paolo, 1993; The Cardinal. The value for the Church and the world of Carlo Maria Martini's episcopate, Mondadori, 2002.

His other titles include: Jesus and Women. The Encounters that Changed Christ, Rizzoli, 1990; Lazarus, Friendship in the Bible, Pauline, 1994; Schuster, Piemme, 1996; Ambrose. The Master's Life Narrated from Augustine, Piemme, 1997; The Padre Pio Case, Sonzogno, 1998; A Dream a Hundred Years Long. Freud, Jung and others to a century after The Interpretation of Dreams, (text for a play), the Vivarium Library, 1999; And There Came a Man Named John, Rizzoli, 2000; Women, Jesus, Change. The contribution of psychoanalysis to the reading of the Gospels, the Vivarium Library, 2005; Life as Friendship, St. Paul's, 2007; The Code of Tarsus, Pauline, 2009.

HAPPY GOAT.

A journalist, author and director, he has been a consultant for RAI since 1993. He has written and directed radio and TV programs, films, documentaries, shows and theatrical events. He has collaborated with Teatro alla Scala, Piccolo Teatro, Comédie Francaise, Teatro Franco Parenti and Zaragoza Expo'. from twenty years he is a consultant for Rai where he has curated projects with Giorgio Albertazzi, Luca Ronconi, Peter Greenaway, Leo De Berardinis, Marco Baliani, Paolo Rossi, Mimmo Cuticchio, Marco Paolini, Alessandro Baricco, Corrado Augias, Paolo Rossi and Giorgio Barberio Corsetti. He collaborates on a regular basis with Dario Fo and Franca Rame for whom he has signed stage directions and staged exhibitions in Italy and Europe. Among his works: The Belly of Palermo. Sulle tracks di Giovanni Falcone e Paolo Borsellino with Franco Scaldati; Fabbrica with Ascanio Celestini; Il sangue e la neve with Ottavia Piccolo (Venice Biennale - 66th International Film Festival); Canto del popolo ebraico massacrato with Moni Ovadia and the Stage Orchestra (Special Jury Prize at the 61st Prix Italia; Fipa Tel - Biarritz; Special Jury Prize at the XII FamaFest - Portugal); Un sasso nello stagno. History and Stories of Gianni Rodari, with Giovanni Antonio Cappa, (Rome International Film Festival, Bellinzona International Festival of Young Cinema). With Marco Baliani he wrote Francesco to head down (Garzanti, 2000) and made the television adaptation after Kolhaas and Corpo di stato. In 2011 he presented again with him at Festival dei Due Mondi, Terra promessa. Brigands and Migrants. He has also made art videos and 3D films. His latest direction for television is Il nipote di Rameau starring Silvio Orlando, which will be presented in competition at the 65th Prix Italia 2013.

PAOLO BONACELLI

Born to Rome, he graduated from the National Academy of Dramatic Art "S. D'Amico" and began his professional career in the "Teatro Popolare Italiano" directed from Vittorio Gassman with Questa sera si recita to soggetto by Pirandello, and then gave life with to. Moravia, D. Maraini and E. Siciliano to the "Compagnia del Porcospino," one of the protagonists of the Roman avant-garde season. He later founded the "Porcospino 2" Company. Bonacelli has linked his success with other important directors such as Mario Missiroli, Franco Enriquez, Giorgio Pressburger, Vittorio Caprioli, Patrice Chéreau, Marco Bernardi, Cherif, Guido De Monticelli, Furio Bordon, and Beppe Navello. He was artistic director of the Teatro di Sardegna from 1991 to 2006, offering numerous shows in which he starred. He has worked in several productions with the Teatro Stabile di Bolzano. More than 80 are his film performances. Among the many awards he received in 1976 the Targa Mario Gromo for Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom, in 1984/85 the Silver Mask, in 1992 the Silver Ribbon, the Ciak d'oro and the Biglietto d'oro for Johnny Stecchino. In 1997 the Biglietto d'oro for La mandragola directed by M. Missiroli. In 2011 he was awarded the "Renato Simoni Award" for lifetime achievement. In 2006 he was awarded the Honor of "Commendatore della Repubblica" by the Presidency of the Republic.

LUCILLA GIAGNONI

Born to Florence, she trained at Gassman's Bottega teatrale with Vittorio Gassman and Jeanne Moreau. After working with Paola Borboni, Raul Grassilli, Luigi Squarzina, from 1986 to 2002 she was the author and protagonist of the shows of Laboratorio Teatro Settimo, one of the historical Italian groups of Narrative and Author's Theater under the direction of Gabriele Vacis. Among her many productions: Esercizi sulla tavola di Mendeleev (Francesca Alinovi Prize-Opera Prima and presented at the international festivals of Salzburg, Madrid, Hamburg, Barcelona, Melbourne), Riso amaro (Wave Prize, Copenhagen), Nel Tempo tra le guerre, Istinto Occidentale, Stabat Mater (Edinburgh Fringe Festival Prize), La Storia di Romeo e Giulietta (Ubu Prize for dramaturgy), Modelli, Villeggiatura. Smanias, Adventures and Return (Golden Ticket to.G.I.S. for Research. I.D.I. Award for dramaturgy. Ubu prize nomination for directing). She collaborates among others with Alessandro Baricco, with Katie Mitchell of the Royal Shalespeare Company of London at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, with Michele di Mauro, Alessandro Benvenuti. She is the author of radio and television broadcasts and collaborates with great musicians. She is the author of several publications, teaches storytelling at the Holden school in Turin and is active in the field of training for theater and communication. She participated in the films Nostos by Franco Piavoli, San Salvario by Enrico Verra, Il dolce rumore della vita by Giuseppe Bertolucci, to/R andata e ritorno by Marco Ponti.

‍