One of the highlights of the summer season in our parts is the series of interviews with notable people at Borgo a Mozzano’s Teatro del Verzura. Literally meaning ‘Green Theatre’ the venue is precisely that: a series of hedgerows and topiaries defining a place in a garden where events can take place in a semi-staged setting. The idea of the Teatro della Verzura in Italy goes back to at least the eighteenth century when pastoral plays were acted in these verdurous surrounding. Every aristocratic villa would have one in their gardens. For example, the Villa Reale near us at Marlia has this fine example;

Borgo’s Teatro della Verzura is built (or rather planted…) in the grounds of a former convent. Now in its seventeenth year the teatro continues to host a varied series of encounters with people from show business, politics and sport. It is essentially an open-air talk show conducted by the mayor of Borgo.

Patrizio Andreucetti has been mayor since 2014 and was re-elected for a second mandate of five years in 2019. (Mayors cannot have more than two consecutive terms in Italy). His background is sociological and political and his most recent book is titled ‘A Blue Butterfly. Il summit di Lucca per la pace tra Russia e Ucraina’ and deals with the Lucca summit’s attempt to find a peace settlement in this horrifically protracted war.

The first evening of the series at Verzura was inaugurated with a tasty reception

This was followed by our.speaker Paolo Del Debbio. Born in Lucca in 1958, Del Debbio is an essayist, journalist, television host, television writer, professor and former Italian politician.

Paolo’s father was deported to the Nazi prison camp of Luckenwalde and luckily survived: the experience. This turned his son into a confirmed anti-fascist. Del Debbio obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and a licentiate in philosophy at the Pontifical Urbaniana University. From 1988 to 1993, he worked at Fininvest Comunicazioni, an external and institutional relations company of the Fininvest group, first as “coordinator of the study centre”, then also as assistant to the managing director. He is a contract professor of ethics and economics at the University of Milan. Together with Berlusconi he is a founder of ‘Forza Italia’ political party which has a share in Giorgia Meloni’s government.

Programmes which feature Del Debbio are normally on canale cinque.

The evening, however,did not deal with Del Debbio’s political past but with his recently published first novel: “Il filo dell’aquilone” (the kite’s line). This is a bildungsroman combining philosophical and theological reflections with a plot centering on the fragility that unites all human beings.As yet no English translation exists. From the excerpts read by a colleague and actor I sensed that the novel is quite special and I shall attempt to get my own copy of it to read.

An evening which started at 9 pm finished shortly before midnight and every minute of it was worth listening to. I shall look forward to attending the other evenings at La Verzura and in particular the one featuring a leading member of the women’s freedom struggle in Iran.

A full list of future encounters can be found here

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