Log book

Syusy and Zoe visit the Ariston Theatre, where for over 60 years the national festival of Italian song has been held! Going in through the artists’ entrance, they are welcomed and accompanied directly by Walter Vacchino, the owner of the theatre. The ceiling frescoed with all the masks of the commedia dell’arte during the Festival is covered by lattice work, the preparations begin very early, in the first days of January. The rest of the year the theatre hosts everything that it is possible to host, even 3D cinema! The “old” part is used as a classical theatre, while there is a new part conceived for hosting lunches, fashion parades, billiards championships, body building competitions, world boxing championships ...

Syusy and Walter together browse through the album of the history of the theatre, which originally was an arena! From generation to generation, the black and white photos flow of all the national and international artists that since the beginning have succeeded one another on the stage: Dario Fo and Franca Rame, Walter Chiari, Rita Pavone, Little Tony, Bobby Solo! And then the magician Zurlì, Antoine, Beppe Grillo, Patty Pravo, Guccini, De André, Gigliola Cinguetti, Celentano, Tenco ... A very long gallery!

Away with nostalgia, Syusy turns to Andrea Vacchino, Walter’s son and already active in the management of the theatre, representing the third generation: “The question is mandatory: what would you like to do here?” The answer is promising: “Real concerts, where the energy exchange flows from the stage to the audience and vice versa!”

It’s time to climb on the stage, from which you see the whole auditorium, which, surprisingly, has a human dimension! On television it looks much bigger and it’s not only an impression: Walter explains that it is the particular game of effects and the wide-angle lens of the television cameras that visually make the room at least 20 times bigger than it really is! Which is a pretext for a reflection which is not so metaphorical: like the auditorium of the Ariston theatre, events and people on television are also enormously amplified ... We should succeed in re-examining their true importance.