Performance conceived and directed by Firenza Guidi.
When:
01.12.2019
17:00
Where:
Medici Bridge in Cappiano – Fucecchio
Admission:
free
COSIMO MEDICI, DUKE OF FLORENCE
REBUILT THIS LAKE FROM THE GROUND UP
FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD
AND LET NO ONE DESTROY IT AGAIN
WITH THE HOPE OF GAINING ADVANTAGE FOR THE TOWN
KNOWING THAT EVERY TIME IT IS DESTROYED
HAVING LOST
THE USE OF THE LAND BELOW
AND THE FISHING ABOVE
WITHOUT ANY PURCHASE
This inscription is still visible on the facades of the towers of the Medici Bridge of Cappiano. By its very nature, a bridge has the function of uniting, of connecting two realities that do not communicate by normal means. This is why the Cappiano Bridge becomes mirabilis as a union between two shores, two worlds, two people, two different realities and two time arcs, the Past and the Future.
The project is inspired by the historical figure of Cosimo I de’ Medici, as he is linked to the history of Fucecchio, in particular for his intervention in the reconstruction and fortification of the Cappiano Bridge. The event/show imagines the young Cosimo I bringing his 17-year-old bride Eleonora da Toledo, already welcomed at the Villa di Poggio a Caiano (like all foreign brides of the Medici family), to visit the Ponte di Cappiano. Here, a party and show are organised as a wedding gift for the young bride. Music, songs and dances celebrate the wedding and are reflected in the waters of the “Lago Nuovo”. Eleonora’s journey becomes a metaphor for becoming a woman and a wife and merges and blends with the broader journey of history. The link between past, present and future finds its place in the stage performance: a truly site-specific show in which spectators and actors together embark on a metaphorical journey of growth, enhancement and recovery of a cultural and emotional fabric halfway between poetry and history.
Alongside the show, there will be an exhibition curated by Alberto Malvolti entitled “Cosimo’s Bridge: the Cappiano bridge, an example of Medici architecture and key to the Padule di Fucecchio”,
and a photographic exhibition entitled “Scenari di Memoria” (Scenes of Memory) on the stage productions set at the Medici Bridge by Firenza Guidi.