Viterbo – To toast the milestone achieved, he will perform with his band in a concert-story on Friday 14 June at the Bistrot of the San Leonardo theater – For the first time the author will sing and play the guitar and harmonica in public
by Federica Focaracci
Viterbo – After 40 years of career between books and school desks as a professor, Antonello Ricci is retiring. Well deserved and long awaited. But he doesn’t stop. It’s time for budgets and relaunches. To celebrate the milestone he decided to give everyone present a musical show-story scheduled for Friday 14 June at the Bistrot of the San Leonardo theatre, in via Cavour 9.
Antonello Ricci
It will be a special occasion, for friends and family who will be present that evening, to see Antonello Ricci perform in public while playing the guitar and the mouth organ, two instruments that have marked Ricci’s life, accompanied by singing. A challenge with himself that he agreed to face by putting himself on the line at 60 years old.
At his side, there will be the musicians guardian angels of the band Rollin’ Thunder Revue. Silvio Ciapica (acoustic guitar, piano, voice and backing vocals), Massimo Giacci (electric guitar); Dario Tredicucci (acoustic guitars), Marco D’Aureli (mouth organ), Olindo Cicchetti (readings and songs).
The cover of “Dylaniana”
Starting from 5.30pm you will be able to access the Bistrot while waiting for the performance scheduled for 6pm. Following this, a glass of wine accompanied by some appetizers will be offered to all those present to celebrate and toast Antonello’s achievement.
Each participant will be given one of his latest writings: Dylaniana, published by Effigi Editori, Arcidosso 2024, a generosity of the publisher Mario Papalini.
“Dylaniana is the last book of love and enchantment for the oral word – says the author – that I wrote. For me, Dylaniana, it was a return to my origins. This little book is the memory of songs that have accompanied me over these long years. It is the memory of the body of songs that reflected my passions at 18 years old. Where it all began. Bob Dylan was the door for me. It was that shock, that empty string that awakened something inside me, hidden deep in my body. The body remembers, it does not forget, it does not betray but passes on.”
Between one translation and another of the songs, between the scrolling of the pages of Dylaniana, there are some portraits of Antonello Ricci, created with the “stylistic influence” of his son Lorenzo. “Those portraits are how he sees me today – he explains – how he reminds me of when he was little and how he dreams of me having been before he was born”. The cover of the book, however, is the result of the creativity and graphic inventiveness of Silvia Cruciani.
A few written and printed pages that fully describe the figure of Antonello Ricci, “a poet of narration, a smoother of the word”, as Silvio Ciapica, Ricci’s lifelong brother and adventure companion, defines him. Through the music of Bob Dylan, Ricci narrates by recalling the most significant experiences that marked stages in his life and through which he rediscovered himself. Dark and lonely moments alternating with moments of happiness and sharing with others.
Dylaniana will not be his last writing. Antonello already has several projects in the pipeline. “Posta per me”, a collection of 50 letters exchanged between correspondents from ’84 to 2004. It will be an intellectual self-portrait shared with friends, an anthropological analysis. A collection of letters written or transcribed on the computer, by hand, sent by email, printed or signed, text messages when social networks or WhatsApp didn’t exist at the time.
“La lengua vitorbese” will be a journey into the dialect of the city of the popes traveled by the author through prose and poems. “Canti del porco corpo”, on the other hand, is a series of songs and hymns to the body as a guardian of identity where knowledge and memory transmit culture and tradition.
Participation in the Antonello Ricci concert-story event is free, but for organizational reasons, it is preferable to book. Each for himself. The reference number is 3668782880.
Antonello Ricci is retiring and with Dylaniana it will be the beginning of a new chapter in his life.
Federica Focaracci
June 7, 2024
