Ultimi Fuochi Festival brings intimate theater to Casa dei Disegni in Puglia

The sixth edition of Ultimi Fuochi Festival, a theater and music festival held in secret natural locations, moves from the countryside to the town of Spongano in Lecce, Italy. From August 20 to 22, 2023, the festival presents "Come va a pezzi il tempo" (How Time Falls Apart) at Casa dei Disegni, a design residence created by designers Luciana Di Virgilio and Gianni Veneziano. The performance, by Alessandra Crocco and Alessandro Miele, accommodates only five spectators per show, a format they have been using since 2018 across various Italian cities. Casa dei Disegni is a restored early 20th-century Salento house featuring star vaults, period wall decorations, cementine floors, and Lecce stone. It functions as both a private residence and a cultural hub. Di Virgilio and Veneziano, founders of the Di Virgilio Veneziano studio, have worked with international museums like Triennale di Milano, which holds the Gianni Veneziano Fund, and have been named Ambassadors of Italian Design by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The residence also hosts a contemporary art collection with works by Marta Baldo, Antonio Fiorentino, Pasquale Gadaleta, Giuseppe Maraniello, and Gianni Veneziano. A new Milanese space is planned for the coming months.