Francesco De Grandi designs 2022 season campaign for Teatro Massimo di Palermo

For the 2022 season, Teatro Massimo di Palermo has commissioned Sicilian painter Francesco De Grandi to create its visual identity, a series of mixed-media works on paper that will be adapted into posters and illustrations. The season marks the 30th anniversary of the 1992 mafia murders of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and is dedicated to the theme of rebirth after the pandemic. The opening production on January 20, 2022, is Emma Dante's staging of Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes in the original French, conducted by Omer Meir Wellber, co-produced with Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro Real de Madrid. Other works include Cenere (May 13-14), an opera-inquiry by Gery Palazzotto on music by Marco Betta, Fabio Lannino, and Diego Spitaleri, concluding a trilogy on mafia massacres, plus classics like Simon Boccanegra and Tosca. De Grandi's campaign revives the tradition of artist-designed posters for theaters, blending contemporary research with classical authority. The theater, closed from 1974 to 1997 due to mafia-political ties, reopened and has since become a symbol of Palermo's resilience. Superintendent Francesco Giambrone emphasized maintaining employment and honoring commitments to artists affected by pandemic cancellations.