News – Through narratives and readings that retraced personal events and unpublished facts
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| Rotary Club Viterbo in San Martino al Cimino |
Viterbo – We receive and publish – The Rotary Club of Viterbo, as part of its dense series of cultural meetings which will end on June 23rd with the ceremony of the 70th anniversary of the club and the Passing of the Bell, has recently intended to rediscover, in the magnificent scenery of the abbey complex of San Martino al Cimino, the figure of Donna Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj, through narratives and reading who retraced personal events and unpublished facts, giving it a new and, in many respects, unexpected face.
Gathered on the steps of the Cistercian abbey, illuminated by the setting sun, the members of the Rotary Club of Viterbo welcomed the initial greeting from President Angelo Landi, whose words paid homage to the historical-artistic beauty of the village of San Martino al Cimino, and introduced the theme of the event held by the Pamphilian historian Colombo Bastianelli and the president of the association Italian Human Connections EtsGiulia Marchetti.
Donna Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj, one of the most extraordinary, influential and discussed female figures of the seventeenth century, commissioned by her brother-in-law Pope Innocent ideal city. If for the Romans the noblewoman still remains there Pimpaccia of Piazza Navona, for the community of San Martino al Cimino she is the benefactor princess, ancestor of all, and the raison d’etre of the village itself and all its inhabitants. It is precisely from the perspective of these feelings, and this ever-present devotion, that Colombo Bastianelli dedicated over 30 years of his life to historical research on Donna Olimpia and the Pamphilj family. By scanning documents, minutes, deeds and private letters, he managed to give a new face to this woman, too often mistreated by a story that is always the same.
The event, organized by the Rotary Club of Viterbo, with the aim of shedding new light on the human profile of one of the most extraordinary, influential and discussed female figures of the seventeenth century, favored a meeting with an original and engaging format, a mixture of narratives and reading theatricalised, sublimated by the magnificent architectural suggestions of the Cistercian Abbey and the Monks’ Library.
After having appreciated the precious diorama of 1897 (by Vittorio Biseo) which reproduces in perfect scale the abbey complex at the time in the 13th century, the narrative moved to the crucial space of the meeting, that is, in the apse of the church where the remains of Donna Olimpia Maidalchini. The participants, sitting in a semicircle on the sides of the choir that frames the tomb, listened to Columbus’ narration, surrounded by the grazing sunlight, which illuminates the imposing nave at vespers. During the re-enactment of the last moments of the life of the Princess of San Martino, a carpet of shadow began to spread out until it obscured the marble on which her spiritual testament is engraved. An evocative sunny choreography, so natural and precise as to appear divine.
The second part of the event was held in the monks’ library with the theatrical reading of the monologue I am Olimpia, written and performed by Giulia Marchetti. In a succession of memories and introspections, the reading he recalled firsthand the complex life of this extraordinary woman: countless pitfalls, mourning and pain, overcome with strength and determination, to the point of overturning her social condition, reaching the highest spheres of Roman nobility and ecclesiastical power.
With a new and original formula, this event of the Rotary Club of Viterbo aimed to enhance the unknown face of Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj, a figure too far ahead in an era dominated only by men, and still rebuked by history, perhaps precisely because she was a woman.
The meeting ended with a pleasant final toast and convivial dinner in the characteristic bistro The Localetto of San Martino al Cimino, a stone’s throw from the abbey.
Rotary Club of Viterbo
June 7, 2024
