At Palazzo Serra di Cassano a theatrical visit dedicated to Domenico Cirillo

After the success of the season opening, Saturday 20th January at 18.00 pm (with second round at 19.30 pm), NarteA returns to Palazzo Serra di Cassano with the theatrical visit Domenico Cirillo – Revolutionary thought, discovering one of the most controversial figures of the Neapolitan revolution of 1799: Domenico Cirillo, doctor and botanist, who despite the philanthropic role he played in the Neapolitan Republic was led to death in Piazza Mercato on 29 October 1799.

Texts and direction are by Febo Quercia, on stage, Mario Di Fonzo, Mariachiara Falcone, Pietro Juliano, Alessio Sica.

To participate, reservations are required at 339.

The guided tour will explore the spaces of Palazzo Serra di Cassano, a meeting place for intellectuals, then as now, thanks to the presence of the Italian Institute of Philosophical Studies, founded in 1975, and located in the palace's elegant rooms since the XNUMXs. Purchased by the Serra di Cassano family at the end of the XNUMXth century, the palace has undergone numerous renovations, including the addition of the famous grand staircase designed by architect Ferdinando Sanfelice in the early XNUMXth century. The historic apartment still houses frescoes by Giuseppe and Gioacchino Magri; in the grand entrance hall, there are stories of Scipio Africanus painted by Giacinto Diano; in the Hall of the Chapters, the faux architecture of Giovan Battista Natali.

The building is located between two parallel streets, on different levels, via Monte di Dio and via Egiziaca, on the latter there was once the main entrance, closed since 20 August 1799, when the young duke Gennaro Serra, an active part in the revolution later overthrown by the Bourbon monarchy, was taken from the Palace by the police of Ferdinand IV. Like him many intellectuals of the time, among whom the name of Domenico Cirillo stands out.

In the halls of the historic palace, where the pain of the Serra di Cassano family still echoes, the story written by Febo Quercia will be staged. Domenico Cirillo, Admiral Nelson, the famous Emma Hamilton and other “voices of history” will lead visitors to discover the phases of the so-called “Ephemeral Revolution” and how the king’s doctor found himself, against his will, involved in the bloody revenge that the Bourbons exercised on the revolutionaries. An unheard plea, passed into the hands of Lady Hamilton, is the basis of the different interpretations of the last moments of Cirillo’s life, analyzed over the years by historians such as Benedetto Croce who, like many, tried to shed a new light on a complex figure like Cirillo.