Vinicio Capossela and Armando Punzo Open Volterra22 with Prison Theatre

The Volterra22 program, marking Volterra as the first Tuscan city of culture, opened with a theatre and music performance inside the city's prison. Director and playwright Armando Punzo, who has led the Compagnia della Fortezza for over 30 years, collaborated with musician Vinicio Capossela. The event involved about 20 inmates from Punzo's company of 80, within a prison housing 170. The performance blended poetic texts from Shakespeare and Borges with Capossela's specially selected songs. It took place in two parts: first in the prison's small theatre (10m by 3m) closed to the public, then at the Teatro Persio Flacco for the wider audience. Capossela stated that such theatre highlights art's real potential for growth, as deprivation of liberty without exchange is unsustainable. Additionally, his sister Mariangela Capossela launched her project "Corrispondenze immaginarie" for Volterra22, involving a declamation on stage and plans to rewrite 365 letters from former psychiatric hospital patients with citizens in June, eventually sending them and creating a collective performance from the responses. Photographs from inside the prison were taken by journalist and photo-reporter Lorenza Cerbini of Corriere della Sera and photographer Nico Rossi.