Naples celebrates Mariano Rigillo with the City Medal: a symbol of continuity for the theater.

In Naples, the ceremony awarding the City Medal to actor, director, and voice actor Mariano Rigillo concluded with a captivating reading of Giorgio Caproni's "Congedo del viaggiatore cerimonioso" (Farewell to the Ceremonious Traveller), performed on the stage of Palazzo San Giacomo. Mayor Gaetano Manfredi described the event as a great testament to Neapolitan theatrical art, celebrating Rigillo as one of the greatest performers in the history of the city's stage: "a great figure in the art of Neapolitan theater" who gave so much to the city and who drew his soul from the theater.

Rigillo, for his part, expressed surprise and gratitude for the honor: "I confess I wasn't expecting it at all—it was wonderful news when they told me, I'm very grateful to the mayor. It's a way to keep hope alive. Everyone asks me, 'Are you an actor?' and I say, 'I was an actor.' Instead, these things give me hope that I can still use the present tense." The actor emphasized how the profession is tied to a variety of characters, not a single role, recalling his time with Brazil and the European tour associated with Masaniello.

In the critical exchange that emerged during the ceremony, Rigillo noted the existence of two theater factions in Naples—the Vivianea and the De Filippo—and explained that he was included in the former because of Viviani's research and staging, thanks also to the support of Patroni Griffi. Eduardo De Filippo, in turn, is said to have stated that only he and Massimo Troisi could have interpreted his texts and his theater; a quote that, even without having expressed it in full, haunts the memory of the Neapolitan theater scene.

The ceremony was attended, among others, by journalist and theater critic Giulio Baffi and essayist and film critic Alberto Castellano. The event opened with the screening of a monologue from Eduardo De Filippo's De Pretore Vincenzo, which Rigillo performed in the Senate Chamber in 2014. This episode provided a vivid frame of memory for the occasion, underscoring the continuity between the past and present of the Neapolitan scene.

The celebration, reported by ANSA, portrays Naples as a city capable of recognizing and nurturing its own theatrical talents, offering a page in culture that is constantly evolving.