The Rome prosecutor's office has opened a file on the death of Libero De Rienzo, the 44-year-old actor found lifeless at home yesterday, and an autopsy has been ordered.
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The investigations are coordinated by deputy prosecutor Francesco Minisci.
The premature farewell of Libero De Rienzo, found lifeless in his Roman home, leaves us shocked and without answers: the Rome prosecutor's office has opened an investigation file and the magistrate Francesco Minisci has ordered an autopsy.
The emotion of colleagues has invaded social media: many, from Anna Foglietta a Paolo Calabresi, Edoardo Leo ad Alessandro Gassmann, paid tribute to his talent.
Looking back, his legacy is truly rich in significant moments.
Libero De Rienzo was born in Naples on February 24, 1977 and, although he grew up in Rome, he maintains a very close bond with his land for which he fought, as a citizen and an intellectual, on several occasions. But he is also, since he was a boy, a citizen of the world and from Rome he inherited a taste for challenge, melancholic irony, and a passion for cinema. He made his first appearances on a set already at the end of the 90s, but soon after, at 24, he was already an emerging figure in independent production.
You can see it in “Fat Girl” by Catherine Breillat, “Game with Death” by Maurizio Longhi, but above all in “Santa Maradona” by Marco Ponti in which he replies to Stefano Accorsi and wins a David di Donatello for best supporting actor. Some call him a “crazy head”, most consider him one of the authentic promises of a new Italian cinema destined to emerge from the ghetto of localism.
Rebellious to every form of convention, in search of films and authors that fit his exuberant personality, he did not immediately exploit his sudden popularity and returned to prominence in 2005 with his first and only direction, “Sangue”, a situational work, almost in the spirit of a revived Boris Vian, in which he translated an encyclopedic culture with strong and often visionary images, partly self-taught, without patterns and totally original.
In 2009 he met Marco Risi and the story of the Neapolitan reporter Giancarlo Siani, a victim of the Camorra: he throws himself headlong into the adventure of “Fortapasc”, written by Andrea Purgatori and gives his most beautiful and mature interpretation, making his character an authentic everyday hero, identifying himself with measure and passion in a real figure to whom he pays homage as if to reconnect with his Neapolitan roots. From that moment on, the authors of the new generation adopt him: Ivan Cotroneo (“Kriptonite”), Valeria Golino (“Miele”), Giorgia Farina (“Ho ucciso Napoleone”). But it is the partnership with Sidney Sibilia that makes him one of the unlikely heroes of the “Smetto quando voglio” trilogy that gives him popularity and the definitive confirmation of a luminous talent.
He also frequented television, but the world of seriality is not his: son of a student of Francesco Maselli (Fiore Di Rienzo), married to Marcella Mosca, father of two beloved children, he is a coherent and rigorous intellectual, despite his disheveled appearance and the contagious cheerfulness of an eternal student. His most recent film, still unreleased, is “Una relazioni”, the first work as a director by Stefano Sardo. What remains of him is his passion, his talent, his inexhaustible thirst for knowledge and reading, his smile, always tinged with a secret melancholy, of a good and just man.
Rai's tribute
Rai wants to pay homage to him today, broadcasting “Smetto quando voglio” on Rai3 at 15.50:XNUMX pm, a choral and funny story by director Sidney Sonnino that sees Libero De Rienzo as the protagonist together with Edoardo Leo, Stefano Fresi, Pietro Sermonti, Valeria Solarino and others, in a brilliant comedy centered on a group of unemployed researchers, who, to escape from a work impasse, decide to produce Smart Drugs. RaiPlay will also remember the actor who died prematurely, in the Cinema offer (https://www.raiplay.it/film) with 4 of his best-known films: “I Can Quit Whenever I Want – Ad Honorem”; “I Can Quit Whenever I Want – Masterclass”; “A Reckless Life”; “I Killed Napoleon”.
The memory of Don Ciotti
"Libero in name and in fact. Honest, passionate, deeply human. A talented actor capable of expressing life. Ciao Libero. You will always be in our hearts and in our commitment“. These are the moving words with which Don Luigi Ciotti remembers the actor and director Libero De Rienzo who died suddenly the night before in his home in Rome.
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The National Coordination of Teachers of the Human Rights Subject
The CNDDU expresses its closeness to the De Rienzo family for the premature passing of Libero:
"Today Libero De Rienzo died, the extraordinary actor who, together with Fortapasc, made the entire country aware of the story of Giancarlo Siani, a “journalist” from Il Mattino who was barbarically murdered by the Camorra because with his pen he told the story of the drama of the Vesuvian towns, and specifically of my city Torre Annunziata, devoured by the cancer of the mafia.
All those who choose to fight for Legality deserve special recognition of esteem and gratitude.
Director Marco Risi wanted with all his might that Libero De Rienzo play the young and unfortunate Giancarlo. Only he could play the courageous Neapolitan journalist. And so it was.
With this film, Risi made a very precise choice and delivered a very precise message to Italy: cinema can and must put itself at the service of society, it can and must be the bearer of ethical and civil values that have been crushed for too long in many parts of the country.
Libero De Rienzo was Giancarlo for those who didn't know Giancarlo.
It was Giancarlo for me, my brothers, my students, my daughter.
And it always will be.
And every time someone will look for this film to learn about the recent history of our fragile Earth, offended, tormented, forgotten, he will feel deep and sincere feelings of esteem and gratitude for his great talent put at the service of cinema and Legality. And he will take a step further to be on the right side together with all the right men.”, we read in the professor's note Rosa Manco.
Article published on 16 July 2021 - 18:35
